
(emin pasha.) 



STANLEY 

# 

AXD THE 

White Heroes in Africa 

BEING 

AN EDITION FEOM MR. STANLEY'S LATE 
PERSONAL WRITINGS ON 

The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition 

And Discoveries in the Dark Continent, with Other Matter from 
the Works of His Companions and Predecessors, 

INCLUDING THE 

Explorations and Adventures 

OF 

BRUCE, MUJ^GO PARK CLAPPERTOjY, DEKHAM, LAJfDER, 

BARTH, A.YDERSSO.r, MAGYAR, DU CHAILLU, BUR- 

TOK, SPEKE, GRAJfT, BAKER, SCHWELYFURTH, 

HOLUB, GORDO.Y. MOFFAT, CAMEROjY, WISS- 

MAX.Y, SERPA PLYTO, JU.YKER, PETERS, 

LIVINGSTONE, EMIN PASHA, AND OTHERS. 



ARRANGED BY 



D. M. KELSEY, AUTHOR OF " PIONEER HEROES," " DEEDS 
*' OF DARING BY BLUE AND GRAY," ETC. 



i^^\ 250 ILLUSTRATIONS. 



V e »^"'' "•"■'♦, 





STANLEY S LETTER-CREST. 



ST. LOUIS AND PHILADELPHIA: 
SCAMMELL & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS, 

1^90. 



\ 



Nir^ 



K 



^ ^ 
^ 



Copyright 1890, 
By H. B. SCAMMELL. 

All Rights Keserved. 



PREFACE. 

'HE arrival of Henry M. Stanley from the coast of Africa 
after nearly three years' absence in the interior, again 
arouses the enthusiastic attention of the civilized world, 
who look with eagerness for his accounts of the history and 
results of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition which he con- 
ducted to a triumphant end. In this substantial volume this 
want is supplied and by following the hero's own language. 
But a proper introduction to and understanding of the great 
African problem requires that the intensely interesting work 
which has been done by his companions or predecessors be 
also related. For this end, libraries containing hundreds of 
volumes on the subject of discovery and explorations in Africa 
have been ransacked for the materials of what is here pre- 
sented ; and this statement of the authorities consulted does 
not include special biographies, works on missions, or the 
many periodicals from which information has been derived. 
In addition to the material thus accessible, volumes not always 
obtainable in libraries have been procured elsewhere. We 
feel justified in the assertion that every possible source of 
information has been made to contribute to the pages of this 
volume. 

The above statements will also bear out the assertion that 
few subjects command more attention at the present day than 
this very one of the explorations of the Dark Continent. . It 
may be urged, on the other hand, that "of making many 
books there is no end," and that since there are many in the 
libraries published upon this subject, another is unnecessary. 
But there is this point to be considered : Such libraries are 
not accessible, except in the large cities; and even there, no 
one has so complete a collection on this special subject as 
the sources to which we have had access. Shall one who 
wishes to know what has been done in this part of the world, 

purchase the volumes in which that information is contained? 

vii 



VUl PREFACE. 

It would require a small fortune ; the early works of Living- 
stone and Stanley alone are published at $5 per volume, and 
several of them are in two volumes each. Again, some of the 
other books are rare, and would be *' cheaply purchased at 
their weight in gold," although some portions of their pages 
would rather cause the average reader to value them at their 
weight in lead, for heavy reading. 

But even in the cities, there is need for such a work as the 
present. Shall the reader who wishes to be well-informed 
upon all the issues of the day devote precious weeks and 
months to the perusal of hundreds of volumes, to searching 
through back numbers of periodicals for information which 
has not yet found its way into any but the most recent books, 
when in a single volume he may find all that he cares to know? 

The authors of the earlier works have embodied in them the 
results of researches which the world cannot afford to lose — 
geographical, ethnological, botanical, zoological information 
at first hand. Such information the present volume does not 
pretend to include in anything like its original form ; for the 
simple reason that space does not permit. If the recital of 
the stirring adventures of these great explorers, from the ear- 
liest to the latest and greatest, excites in you the desire to 
know. more of them, turn to their own volumes, and listen to 
what they would teach you of the minutioB of the Dark Conti- 
nent, its- botany, its zoology, its water supply, its vast deserts, 
its mineralogy, etc., etc. 

No one can tell Stanley's or Emin's story as well as them- 
selves; and the same is true of all the others. It is for that 
reason that the words of the explorers themselves are so faith- 
fully adhered to. In some cases condensation has not allowed 
of invariable quotation; but even here, the actual wording has 
been followed wherever possible ; little but the person of the 
nouns and verbs being changed. 

It would be useless to make acknowledgments of indebted- 
ness to any particular authorities. In all cases, the originals 
have been used ; and the names of the men whose adventures 
are detailed will prove a sufficient clue to the works which 
have furnished the principal part of a chapter. 

D. M. Kelsey. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE OUTSKIRTS OF A CONTINENT. 
Size of Africa as Contrasted with other Continents — Its Great Rivers — 
The Congo as Compared with the Mississippi — Earliest Civilization — Egypt 
— Ancient History— Medieval History — Modern Rulers— Nubia Abyssinia- 
Its Religious History — Kassai, or Theodore— A Tumultuous Reign — Cul- 
minating Point in Abyssinian History — Fezzan — The Barbary States — 
Morocco — Tripoli — Tunis — Algeria — Senegambia — Sierra Leone — Liberia — 
Portuguese Settlements — Cape Colony — The Diamond Fields — Natal — Or- 
ange River Free State — Transvaal Republic — Other Settlements. . 23 

CHAPTER n. 

EARLY EXPLORATIONS OF AFRICA. 
Herodotus — Eudoxus — An Incredible Statement Proved True — ^Ptolemy's 
Ideas about Africa — Mohammedan Explorations — The Portuguese Naviga- 
tors — In the Congo Country — On the Eastern Coast — First English Expedi- 
tions — Ascent of the Senegal — Of the Gambia — French Explorations. 45 

CHAPTER m. 

JAMES BRUCE. 
Lineage and Early Experiences — Consul at Algiers — Travels through 
Barbary — Leaves for Cairo — Survey of the Red Sea — Making Friends — 
Revolt of Fasil — Interview with Fasil — A Merciful Man — Ascending the 
Blue Nile — The Fountains of the Nile — Importance of His Discovery — The 
Road Home— Abyssinian Customs — Reception in England — Vindicated at 
Last — Death. . . 56 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE AFRICAN SOCIETY. 
Establishment — ^Previous Attempts of Continental Nations — Early Vol- 
unteers — Ledyard — Lucas — Houghton — Mungo Park — Proposed Route — A 
Prisoner— Flight into the Desert — The Niger— His Discovery — Return to 
the Coast and to England — Second Expedition of Park — Strength of the 
Party — The Ravages of Fever — An Offended Chief— Death of Park and his 
Companions— Hornemann — The Goverment Expeditions— Laing. . 74 

CHAPTER Y. 

CLAPPERTON AND DENHAM. 
Personnel of the Expedition — An Arab Merchant Prince — Across the 
Desert — Lake Tchad — Bornou's Rulers — On a Slave-Hunting Expedition — 
An Unfortunate Campaign — A Tuarick Mode of Defense — Disregard of 
Humanities — Death of Dr. Oudney — The White Man's Magic — Clapperton 
at Sakati — ^Return to England— Clapperton's Second Expedition— Flatter- 

ix 



X CONTENTS. 

ing Receptions— An Arab Widow— A Case of "Bevare of the Yidders"— 
War—An Outrage— Death of Clapperton— Lander's Return to the Coast- 
To England— Lander's Expedition — At Badagry— Demands of the Chief- 
Delays — Curiosity not Encouraged— At Yauri — Descent of the Niger— Liv- 
ing Scarecrows- -Attacked — Allowed to Proceed — King Forday — White 
Men at Last — A Cruel Compatriot — Homeward Bound — Results of their 
Journey 87 

CHAPTER VI. 

BARTH AND HIS COMPANIONS. 
Richardson, Barth, and Overweg — Departure from Europe— Lost in the 
Desert— Freebooters— Installing a Chief— "No Rest before Kano ! "—Desti- 
tute— Death of Richardson— The Chadda— Serpent's Fat— A Slave-Hunt— 
Death of Overweg — Mohammedan Bigotry ^Timbuctoo — Summing 
Up 118 

CHAPTER YII. 

EARLY EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA— ANDERSSON AND 

MAGYAR. 
Summary of Livingstone's Early Discoveries — Missionary Stations — The 
Ondangos — Nangoro — The Price of a Wife — A Hyena Trap — Galton's Re- 
turn — Andersson's Second Expedition — A Night's Hunting— The Ele- 
phant's Charge — Two Rhinoceros Bagged — Lake Ngami — Disappointment 
— Ascent of the Teoge River — Summary of Travels — Settled Down — 
Magyar — Honors to the White Man — A Peculiar People-^Magyar's Defi- 
ciencies.. 136 

CHAPTER VHI. 

DU CHAILLU AND THE GORILLA COUNTRY. 
Territory Explored by Du Chaillu — Laws of African Commerce — Cere- 
monies at the Choice of an African King — Du Chaillu's First Expedition — 
The Second Journey — The Ntambounay Falls — Gorilla Hunting — The Fan 
Tribe — A Notable Gorilla Hunt — Elephant Hunting — "Washington" — 
Visit to Goumbi and Obindji — A Tragical Gorilla Hunt — Visit to Apingi — 
A Tempting Meal Proposed and Refused — Du Chaillu Elected King of 
the Apingi — Results of His Journeys — Serval, Compiegne and Marche. 154 

CHAPTER IX. 

SEARCH FOR THE SOURCES OF THE NILE BY BURTON, 
SPEKE AND GRANT. 
Expedition of Burton and Speke Starts Out — Evidence of Unsafe Trav- 
eling — The Wazaramo — Horrors of the Slave-Trade — The Land of the 
Moon— Objects of Curiosity — The First Sight of Tanganyika — Trials of 
Boating on Tanganyika — Confused Ideas Regarding Tanganyika and the 
Nyanzas — Return to England — Recognition of Services — Expedition of 
Speke and Grant — The Route Planned — A Hunting Adventure — Three 
Buffalo Hunts in One Day— Lost in an African Forest — Changes in Unyan- 
yembe — The Waganda — A Humane Action — Little Windermere — Approach 
to Uganda — The Court of Mtesa — Speke Asserts his Dignity — A Silent 
Interview — Unfortunate Queens — The Queen-Dowager — The Nile — Sum- 
ming up of the Expedition — Unyoro — King Kamrasi — A Savage Chronolo- 
gist— Kamrasi's Demands— Meeting with Baker— Speke's Faithfuls— Final 
Review of Results of Expedition— Honors— Death of Speke. . 168 



CONTENTS. XI 

CHAPTER X. 

SIR SAMUEL W. BAKER AND HIS HEROIC LADY. 
An Independent Explorer — Mrs. Baker — Studying Arabic — An Adventure 
in Hunting Rhinoceros — Chased by a Rhinoceros — An Elephant Hunt — 
The Sword Wins — The Wliirlpool at Royan Junction — Rhinoceros Attacks 
a Horse — Two Rhinoceros Bagged — Meeting with Speke and Grant — A 
Leaf of the Laurel — Disciplining his Men — A Modest Proposal — Mrs. 
Baker Objects to Being Exchanged — Difficulties and Sickness — The Albert 
Nyanza — Return — Recognition 199 

CHAPTER XI. 

SCHWEINFURTH IN THE HEART OF AFRICA. 
First Trip to Africa — Proposition to Humboldt Institution — Route Pur- 
sued—Ivory Merchants— The Shillooks— The Confluents of the White Nile 
— The Dinkas — Gardening in the Dyoor Country — The Niam-Mams — 
Chivalrous Cannibals — The Water-Shed of the Kile — King Munza— The 
Pygmies — Almost a Great Discoverer — Disastrous Fire — Results of Expedi- 
tion. : ... 225 

CHAPTER XH. 

DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN HUNTER AND EXPLORER. 
A Needy Adventurer — The Diamond Fields — Professional Success — First 
Expedition — Difficulties of Traveling in South Africa — Wonderfontein — 
A Lion Hunt — Easter Sunday in the River — Return — Second Expedition — 
Surrounded by Flames — A Powder Magazine in the Wagon — The Natives 
Try to Buy Brandy — Killed by a Lion — A Brother's Devotion — Religion of 
of Natives — Enchanting Khame — Khame Declines to Be Enchanted — The 
Boguera — A Lion at Bay — An Unfortunate Elephant Hunter — Khame's 
Fight for his Throne — Double-Dyed Traitors — A Nocturnal Watch for 
Lions — The Animals of the Land Pass in Review — Visit to the Marutse 
Kingdom — An Imposing Reception — A Successful Lion Hunt — Trip up the 
Zambesi — In the Rapids — Loss of Supplies — Illness at Soma — Return to 
Shesheke — An Unwelcome Visitor — Return to Kimberley — Welcome Gifts 
—Resume of Work 238 

CHAPTER XIH. 

CHRISTIAN iMISSIONS IN AFRICA. ■ 
Religions of Africa — Fetichism — Devil-Worship — Early Portuguese Mis- 
sions — Earliest Protestant Missions — The Moravians — Methodists — London 
Missionary Society — Robert Moff'at — Reception by Africaner — Itinerary 
Preaching — Livingstone — Summing Up of Work Done — Dutch Reformed 
Church — Glasgow Missionary Society — Bishop Mackenzie — Livingstonia — 
Paris Evangelical Society — American Missions — Bishop Crowther — The 
Baptists — The Rhenish Missionary Society — The Berlin Missionary Society 
— Missions in Egypt — In Abyssinia — Catholic Missions in Northern Africa — 
On the Zambesi — The International Society — Number of Agencies — Mada- 
gascar — Missionaries Invited — Persecutions — Martyrdoms — A Christian 
Ruler — Religious Liberty — Memorial Churches and their Work — Other La- 
bors of the Denominations. • 284 

CHAPTER XIV. 

LIVINGSTONE THE .MISSIONARY. 
Getting an Education — Early Ambition — The Self-Helper Helped — Mis- 
sionary to South Africa — Attacked by a Lion — Sechele — Droughts Affect 



Xll CONTENTS. 

Missionary Work — Hunting— The Hopo Trap — Jack of All Trad«s — Across 
the Kalahari Desert — Ascent of the Zouga — Lake Ngami — Second Trip to 
Ngami — The Tsetse — Sebituane Visited — The Zambesi — The Slave-Trade 
— Sechele's Confidence in English Justice — Visit to Sekeletu — Livingstone's 
Experience of Native Doctors — Ascent of the Zambesi — Determination to 
Cross the Continent — Reception by Shinte — Hostile Natives Demand the 
Gift of a Man — Arrival at Loanda — Journey Eastward Begins — An Ox or a 
Man — Cool Firmness of Traveler — The Ferrymen Circumvented — The Mis- 
sionary among Friends — Attacked by a Hippopotamus — Parcels Received 
from Mr. Moffat — The Theorist Anticipates the Explorer — To the East 
Coast — The Victoria Falls — The Traveling Procession Interrupted — Return 
to England via Bombay 301 

CHAPTER XV. 

LIVINGSTONE THE GREAT EXPLORER. 
Results of Early Journeys — The Expedition to the Zambesi — Objects — 
Portuguese Maps Unreliable — Reason — The Portuguese and the Natives — 
The Landeens — Livingstone and his Makololo — Kebrabasa — First Trip to 
the Shire — Lake Shirwa Visited — The Elephant Marshes — To the Great 
Lake — Hippopotamus Trap — The Great Unwashed — Lake Nyassa — Asccml 
of Zambesi Again — Insolent Ferrymen — Second Visit to Victoria Falls — 
Visit to Sekeletu — " The White Man Must Be Saved " — Descending the 
Rapids— The Ma-Robert Sunk — Arrival of Universities' Missionaries — 
Exploring the Rovuma — Seeking a Missionary Station — Freeing Slaves — A 
Child's Question — Heart-Rending Stories — Slave-Hunters Escape — A Deso- 
lated Country — The Englishmen Seriously Threatened — Second Visit to 
Nyassa — Robbed — Exploration of Lake — Party Separated — Descent to the 
Kongone — Arrival of Ladies — The Lady Nyassa — The Fever — Death of 
Mrs. Livingstone — The Lady Nyassa Launched — Delays — Expedition Re- 
called — Return to England via Zanzibar and Bombay. . . . 332 

CHAPTER XVI. 

LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEY. 
The Third Expedition — Attendants and Animals — Misfortunes — The 
Open Sore of the World — Lake Nyassa — Sponges — Among the Maganja — 
Loss of Medicines — Reception by Chitapangwa — Driver Ants — Tanganyika 
— Illness — Trouble Between Arabs and Natives — A Marriage — An Earth- 
quake — Discovery of Lake Bangweolo — Serious Illness — Theft of Goods — 
The Lualaba — Soko-Hunting — " Sorest Delay I Ever Had " — Broken Hearts 
— The Lualaba Again — A Journey through Dangers — Death Threatened 
Thrice in One Day — Return to Ujiji — Destitute — The Darkest Hour — The 
Dawn — "An Englishman!" — The Stars and Stripes at Ujiji — Henry M. 
Stanley — Restoration to Health and Enthusiasm — Journeys — Stanley's De- 
parture — Arrival of Caravan with Stores — Return to Tanganyika — Bang- 
weolo Again — Hardships — Failing — Faithful Servants — His Last Prayer — 
His Death Discovered — Taking his Body Home — Westminster Abbey — 
A Coincidence 372 

CHAPTER XVII. 

HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 

Birth and Early Education of Stanley— To America— Adoption by Mr. 

Stanley of New Orleans — In the Confederate Army— In the United States 

Navy — Adventures in Turkey — Correspondent of the Herald — In Abyssinia 

—American Enterprise— In Spain— Summoned to Paris — FIND LIVING- 



CONTENTS. Xlll 

STONE — A Circuitous Route to Zanzibar— Dr. Kirk's Opinion of Living- 
stone — Departure — Bagamoyo — Shooting Hippopotami — Kingaru's Cun- 
ning — News of Ijivingstone — Crossing the Makata — Difficulties — An Inso- 
lent Follower — Attempt to Assassinate Stanley — Insect Visitors — A Water- 
less District — Fever — Unyanyembe — War! — Mirambo and his Misdeeds — 
Victories and Reverses — Stanley Deserted — Retreat — Threatening Danger 
— APresent — Kalulu — Preparations for Departure — ForUjiji — AVisitfrom 
the Chief— A Laughing Party — Concentrated Ammonia — A Mutiny — Stan- 
ley's Life again Attempted — The Leaders Punished — Attack of a Leopard — 
Lions near the Camp — "A White Man at Ujiji" — Stealing a March — Silenc- 
ing a Woman — Tanganyika — Ujiji — "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" — 
"Yambo, Bana" — Stanley Tells the News — "You have Brought Me New 
Life " — Under the Palms of Ujiji — On the Tanganyika — A Favorite Theory 
Overthrown — Journey to Unyanyembe — A Lion in the Grass — Newspapers 
and Letters — Parting from Livingstone — Precious Papers in Danger — 
"Drop that Box, and I'll Shoot You!" — Through Watery Ways — Going 
Home — The Livingstone Search Expedition — Reception of Stanley in 
England 414 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE CAMERON-LIVINGSTONE SEARCH EXPEDITION, 
Difficulties at Start — Cameron Leaves Zanzibar — The March — Deserters — 
Incidents of the March — A Strike — Curious Customs — The Wagogo — News 
of Livingstone — Unyanyembe — Illness — News of Livingstone's Death — 
Body Received — Cameron Decides to Go to Ujiji — Personnel of Expedi- 
tion — A Miserable Christmas — Disordered State of the Country — L^gara — 
Crossing the Sinde — Arrival at Kawele — Recovers Livingstone's Papers — 
The Slave Trade — The Waguhha — Making Brothers — Livingstone's Influ- 
ence — The Lualaba — Nyangwe — A Visit in State — Attack on the Caravan — 
Hostile Natives — Kasongo — Strange Stories — "Fire!" — The Walunda — At- 
tempted Burglary — Alvez — Visit to Kongo — Difficulties — Peace and Plenty — 
Civilization 496 

CHAPTER XIX. 

STANLEY PIERCES THE DARK CONTINENT FROM OCEAN 

TO OCEAN. 
New Mission — The Work Planned — Arrival at Zanzibar — Organization of 
Expedition — Departure — The Universities' Mission — Interviewed by Lions 
— Trouble — A Three Days' Fight — Start for Circumnavigation of Victoria 
Nyanza — Crocodiles and Hippopotami — Mtesa, King of Uganda — Sickness 
and Death in the Camp — A Murderous Outbreak — Meeting with Mtesa — 
Mtesa Converted — A Fight and a Fire — Uganda and Its People — Panic in the 
Camp — Rumanika — The Terror of Africa — Ishmaelites of Africa — Circum- 
navigation of Tanganyika — The Lady Alice — On Livingstone's Traces — In 
Dwarf-Land— The Livingstone River — The Path to the Ocean — Attacked 
from Both Banlvs — Cataracts and Cannibals— Stanley Falls — The Congo— 
The King of Chumbiri— Kalulu— The " Little Master " Drowned — Mutiny 
— More Cataracts — Struggling On — " Saved, Thank God!" — Approaching 
Civilization — Atlantic Ocean — Loanda 540 

CHAPTER XX. 

PORTUGUESE EXPLORATIONS AND MAIOR SERPA PINTO. 
Instructions — Departure from Loanda — Separation of Party — Impudent 
Visitors— Using a Hostage— Illness— An Assortment of Wives— The Sova of 



XIV CONTENTS. 

the Quimbandes— Across Country— Chibitano— A Narrow Escape — Fire as 

a Weapon — An Irresistible Sorcery — Theft — Down the Zambesi — White 
Men — Surveying under Difficulties — Across the Kalahari — A Disagreeable 
Interruption by Lions — Arrival at Pretoria 585 

CHAPTER XXI. 

THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 

Stanley's Return to Europe— Work Awaiting Him— The African Inter- 
national Association — Leopold II. and African Geography — International 
Association of the Congo — The Expedition — Station at Yivi — Road-ma- 
king — Sickness — A Gigantic Practical Joke — Upper Congo Expedition — 
Lake Leopold II. — Stanley Returns to Europe — Back to Africa — War — The 
Slave-Trade on the Congo — Honoring the Chief — Human Sacrifices — The 
Congo Free State Recognized — Kerr's Explorations — Xight Marches Neces- 
sary — The Reason — " Abantu! " — Deserted — Livingstonia — A Surprise — 
Rescued — Down the Shire — Running the Gauntlet — Protecting a Hostage — 
Summary — Thomson's Travels — Previous Experience— Explorations of 
Masai Land — Kilimanjaro — An Adventure with a Rhinoceros — Thomson 
Falls — Mount Kenia — Tossed by a Buffalo — Summary — Chased by a Buffalo — 
A Charge — At Close Quarters with a Lion — Chased by an Elephant. 605 

CHAPTER XXn. 

THE SOUDAN AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 
The Soudan, Its Boundaries and Extent — Its Earl}^ History — The Khe- 
dive's Resolve — Sir Samuel Baker's Expedition — Purpose of— Arrange- 
ments — Camp at Tewfikeeyah — Exploration of White Nile — Gondokoro — 
Official Annexation — Xew Enemies — Destruction of the Ship Detachment — 
Spirit of Disaffection — Vessels Return to Khartoom — Moral Results of the 
Hunt— The Advance South— To Lobore— Arrival at Fatika— The March to 
Umyoro — To Masindi — Restoration of Liberated Slaves — Commerce — 
Treachery — March to Rionga — Stockade at Foweera — ISTo Medical Men — 
Baker Sends for Re-inforcements — Arrival of Mtesa's Envoys — Reasons for 
Failure 650 

CHAPTER XXm. 

GORDON AND THE MAHDI. 
Early History of Gordon — First Visit to the Soudan — A Journey "Begun 
in Glory and Ended in Shame " — Moogie Established — Magic Stopped in a 
Hurry — Change in Mtesa — The Chisel That Cuts the Wood — An Explora- 
tory Expedition — Return to England — In Abyssinia — Governor General of 
the Soudan — The Level Balance — Revolt of Sebehr-Gessi Pasha — Johannis 
of Abyssinia — Resignation — Return — Work Elsewhere — Troubles in the 
Soudan — The False Prophet — El Mahdi Victorious — Hicks Pasha — A Terri- 
ble Battle— " Why not Send Chinese Gordon?"— The Man for the Hour- 
Condition of the Soudan — El Mahdi Defeated — Gordon's Journey to Khar- 
toom — Defeat — Defending Khartoom — Abandoned by the Government — 
The Relief Expedition— Khartoom Captured— The End of the Story of 
Gordon " . * 687 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

EMIN PASHA IN THE EQUATORIAL PROVINCE. 
Emin's Birth and Boyhood — His Education — Trained as a Physician — 
Love of Travel — Goes to Turkey and the East — Origin of His Adopted 
Name — Emin, " The Faithful One " — Masters Many Languages — Adopts 



CONTENTS. XV 

Eastern Habits and Customs— Goes with Oordon— Becomes Governor of 
the Equatorial Province — Character of His Command — Difficult Situation— 
His Efficient Management— Stops the Slave-Trade— Emin's Prophecy— 
His Difficulties — Visits Khartoom — Forgotten — Invited to the Mahdi's 
Standard— Rebellious Subordinates— Treachery— A Suicidal Demand- 
News of Gordon — Letters from Khartoom — The Province to be Abandoned 
— Egyptian Ignorance — Mwanga — Missions in Uganda — Emin Pasha Hears 
of the Prospect of Relief— " For Civilization andProgress ' Sake." . 702 
CHAPTER XXV. 

STANLEY LEADS THE EMLN PASHA RELLEF EXPEDLTION. 

Preparations — Choice of the Leader — The Freedom of London Presented 
to Stanley — Route Selected — Banana Point — Up the Congo — Famine — 
Camp at Yambuya — Instructions to the Rear Column — Major Barttelot's 
Enthusiam — The Advance Column — Fighting — Misfortunes Begin — An Aw- 
ful Month— Skeletons— Plenty— Description of the Congo Forests— Stanley 
Comes out of the Woods — Beauty and the Beast — Hostile Natives — ^'-Kur- 
wanaP^ — "We Simply Pressed On!" — The ISTyanza! — They Had Never 
Heard of Good People from the West— Retreat— The Result of Punishment 
— A Letter from Emin Pasha — Emin Pasha Visits Stanley's Camp — A Warm 
Reception — Emin Pasha's Condition — Indignities to Casati — Geographical 
Results of the Journey — Native Defenses — Oyster-Shells in the Interior- 
Reported Famine — Poisoned Arrows — Insects of the Congo Forests — Arab 

Devastations — Thelturi. . 716 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
STANLEY RESCUES EMLN PASHA. 

Emin Pasha's Indecision — His Forces — Stanley's Opinion — ^Back to Fort 
Bodo — The Rear Column a Source of Anxiety — Record of the Rear Col- 
umn — Superfluities — The Slave-Traders — Preparing for the Wilderness — 
Dwarfs — Starvation Camp — Thin Broth — Fort Bodo Again — Natives Taught 
by Experience — A Surprising Letter — Emin Pasha a Prisoner — Particulars 
of the Rebellion — The Soldiers Protest — Instructions to Jephson — Stanley 
Safe — Emin Pasha Must Decide — His Worst Enemy — Still Undecided — 
Stanley's Suggestion — An Electrifying Letter — The Truth Ascertained — 
Selim Bey — Sickness — Precious Rubbish — Reasonable Mutiny — Stanley Ex- 
plains the Situation — The Verdict — Casati's Views — Stanley's Arguments 
— Men Convinced against Their Will — Egyptians Unwilling to Go — 
Treachery Discovered — Stanley's Prompt Action — The Muster — Setting 
Out — Stanley Prostrated — Insolence and Abject Entreaties Combined — The 
Journey Fairly Begun 756 

CHAPTER XXVH. 

THE RETURN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMLN TO THE 

COAST. 
On the Threshold of an Interesting Region— The Plain— The Semlikl 
— The Hostile Warasura — A Wholesome Fear of the Expedition — Losses — 
The Albert Edward Nyanza — Punishing the Traitors — Providence or Luck? 
—Stanley Again Prostrated— The March for Home— The Mountains of the 
Moon — Description of the Country around Ruwenzori — Ascent of Ruwen- 
zori— Stairs's Report— The "White Stuff"— Snow under the Equator- 
Course from Albert Edward Nyanza— Friends after Fighting— Stanley's 
Account of the Natives — Vicissitudes of Climate — Stanley's Indignation — 
Stanley States the Case— Mpwapwa—Wissmann and His Exploits— Peters — 
Stanley's Entry into Bagamoyo— Accident to Emin Pasha— Stanley at Suez 
— At Cairo— Interview with the Khedive— Rest 799 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Pyramids and Sphinx. Vignette 

Portrait of Henry M. Stanley Full Page Frontispiece 

Portrait of Emin Pasha. ..... Full Page Frontispiece 

Stanley's Start with Tippu Tib and Escort on the 
Emin Pasha Relief Expedition. . . . Full Page Frontispiece 

Modern Sphinx-like Head of Egyptian Woman. .. . . Vignette 

An Ancient Egyptian Garden Full Page 22 

Great Statue of the Nile Full Page 26 

The Nile at Old Cairo 28 

Palace of the Khedive at Alexandria 80 

King Theodore Giving Audience Full Page 34 

Berber Family Crossing a Ford — Scene in Algeria. . Full Page 30 

Manner of Boers. Receiving a Visit Full Page 38 

Landing of Napoleon III. in Algiers Full Page 40 

Native Diamond Thief Compelled to Disgorge. . . Full Page 42 

Moorish Warrior. 48 

First Cataract of the Nile, near Assouan 58 

Massowa 60 

Abyssinian Raw Meat Feast. . . . . . . Full Page 64 

An Abyssinian Lawsuit . Full Page 72 

Portrait of Dr. Mungo Park 78 

Canoe Traveling on African Rivers 83 

Interior of an Oriental Harem Full Page 97 

An Arab Trader's Party Full Page 102 

African Superstition — Fetishmen and their Rites. . . Full Page 108 
Crossing a River in the Wilds of Africa. . . '. . Full Page 113 

Portrait of Dr. Heinrich Barth 119 

Caravan Approaching a City in the Vast Desert of Sahara. Full Page 122 

Portrait of an African Beautv 128 

Hill, Called " The Monkey Palace," in Western Soudan. Full Page 132 

Portrait of Carl Johann Andersson 137 

Natives Capturing a Hippopotamus Full Page 140 

Spring-Gun Trap for Wild Animals 141 

"His enormous bulk towered above my head." . . Full Page 144 

An Assortment of Rhinoceros Heads 146 

Exorcising an Evil Spirit Full Page 150 

Akkas, a Dwarf Tribe of Central Africa 152 

Du Chaillu at Close Quarters with a Gorilla. . . . Full Page 158 
Elephant Attacked by Natives with Spears. . . . Full Page 160 

Chief Obindji and His Cow-Bell 163 

Portrait of Capt. Richard F. Burton 169 

Native African War Instruments and Ornaments. . . Full Page 174 

Portrait of Capt. J. H. Speke 178 

Portrait of Capt. Grant 179 

Suliman Gets into a Tree Quick . . , 180 

Sirboko's Slaves Carrying Fuel and Cutting Rice. . Full Page 184 
Grant Dancing with 'the Native Women. . . . Full Page 186 

View of King Mtesa's Palace Full Page 188 

King Mtesa and His Chief Officers. 189 

xvi 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



XVll 



A Queen Dragged to Execution 191 

Speke Introducing Grant to the Queen Dowager of Uganda. Full Page 192 

Kamrasi's First Lesson in the Bible Full Page 194 

Speke's Faithfuls Full Page 196 

Portrait of Sir Samuel White Baker 200 

Portrait of Lady Baker. 201 

Sir Samuel W. Baker and Lady on an African Journey. . Full Page 204 

A Close Chase 208 

The Elephant's Last Charge. ....... Full Page 210 

The Great Whirlpool of the Royan Junction. . . Full Page 212 

A Good Horse in Danger Full Page 214 

The Start for the Lake with Kamrasi's Satanic Escort. . Full Page 220 

A Storm on the Albert Nyanza Full Page 222 

Portrait of Dr. Georg A. Schweinfurth 226 

Ascending the jSTile. Full Page 228 

A Niam-Niam Minstrel. . Full Page 230 

King Munza in Full State. . . . . . . Full Page 232 

King Munza Dancing before His Wives Full Page 236 

Portrait of Dr. Emil Holub 239 

African Explorers Trading with ISTatives 241 

Dangers of Midnight Traveling 243 

Arousing a Lioness from Her Ambush Full Page 244 

A Dangerous Ford Full Page 246 

A Headlong Flight from the Flames Full Page 250 

A Rush for Fire- Water Full Page 252 

Treed bv Lions Full Page 254 

The Finding of the Lost Brother. ..... Full Page 256 

Spoiled Magic 258 

Facing a Lion with an Assegai 259 

Training Bechuana Bovs 260 

The Lion at Bay. \ 262 

A Deadly Encounter Full Page 264 

Khame Defeats the Traitors Full Page 266 

A Fruitless Night Vigil 268 

African Musical Instruments Full Page 270 

The Lioness Springs Out of Concealment. . . . Full Page 272 

Capsized in the Rapids 275 

A Boer's Wife Defending Her Wagon from Kaffirs. . . . 277 

A Terrible Intruder Full Page 278 

Portrait of Mrs. Holub 282 

Natives Worshiping a Clay Idol 285 

Portrait of Rev. Robert Moftat 288 

Moffat Preaching to the Natives 289 

African Superstition — A Sham Devil 290 

Grave of Bishop Mackenzie, with Cross of Slave-Yokes. . . 292 

Rev. Henry Johnson, Archdeacon of the Upper Niger. . . 294 

Portrait of David Livingstone. . . * . . . Full Page 302 

The Missionary at the Mercy of a Lion Full Page 306 

The Hopo, or Trap for Driving Game Full Page 308 

The Pit at the End of the Hopo Full Page 310 

Elephants in Difficulty at the Steep Bank of a River. . Full Page 312 

Natives Harpooning Hippopotami Full Page 314 

1. The Tsetse Fly. 2. The Same, Magnified. 3. The Proboscis. 317 

The Lion Narrowly Misses Mr. Oswell Full Page 320 

Ostrich Hunting Full Page 322 

Reception of Livingstone by Shinte Full Page 324 

Zebra Chase Full Page 328 

Boat Capsized by a Hippopotamus Robbed of Her Young. Full Page 332 
The Victoria Falls of the Zambesi. . . . . . Full Page 334 

The Traveling Procession Interrupted Full Page 336 



XVlll ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Zulu Girls in Dancing Costume. 343 

Zulus, Who Lift Tribute of the Portuguese at Senna, Exhibit- 
ing War Exercises Full Page 344 

Hunting on the Great Elephant Marshes of the Shire Valley. Full Page 348 

Hippopotamus Trap 349 

African Blacksmiths at Work Full Page 352 

A Native Doctor Administering "Medicine." 354 

Gang of Captives on their Way to Tette. . . . Full Page 358 
Ajawa and Manganji Barbed Arrow-Hea^s. ._ . . . . 363 

The Grave of Mrs. Livingstone. ..... Full Page 368 

Hercules Falls, South Africa 371 

Slave-Traders Eevenging their Losses Full Page 374 

Fantastic African Head-Dresses. . . . . . Full Page 376 

Chitapangwa Receiving Dr. Livingstone. . . . Full Page 378 

The Arrival of Hamees' Bride Full Page 382 

A Lunda Toilet 384 

Manyuema Hunters Killing Sokos Full Page 388 

A Dangerous Prize Full Page 390 

Massacre of the Manyuema Women at Nyangwe. . . Full Page 392 

The Manyuema Ambuscade Full Page 394 

Autograph Fac-Simile Letter from Dr. Livingstone. . . . 399 

" The main stream came up to Susi's mouth." . . . Full Page 400 

The Last Mile of Livingstone's Travels Full Page 402 

Autograph Fac-Similes of Last Entries in Livingstone's 

Journals 404, 405 

The Last Arrival on Earth Full Page 406 

Chuma and Susi 409 

Livingstone's Body Carried to the Coast 410 

Autograph Fac-Simile of Wainwright's Letter Announcing 

Death of Livingstone 411 

Portrait of James Gordon Bennett 417 

Zanzibar 419 

Stanley and His Faithful Natives Full Page 422 

The Exploring Expedition en Route. .... Full Page 426 

Stanley Crossing the Great Makata Swamp. . . . Full Page 430 
African Musical Instruments, Weapons, etc. . . . . . 435 

A Wedding-Dance in Africa Full Page 438 

The Attack on Zimbizo Full Page 442 

Stanlev and His Retinue in Africa Full Page 448 

A Giraffe Hunt Full Page 450 

Trying White Man's Medicine Full Page 454 

Quelling a Mutiny Full Page 456 

An Unwelcome Visitor Full Page 460 

Meeting of Stanley and Livingstone in Africa. . . Full Page 466 

Stanley and Livingstone on the Rusizi Full Page 472 

Bagging a Man-Eating Crocodile with Bait Warranted to 

Attract Full Page 474 

Stanley and Livingstone Receiving " White Man's News ". Full Page 476 

"You drop that box— I'll shoot!" Full Page 478 

Wagogo Heads 485 

A Masai Warrior 486 

Portrait of Lieut. V. L. Cameron 487 

Village of Kitata, Tanganyika Lake Full Page 490 

Plentv of Company, Yet Lonely in the Heart of Africa. Full Page 492 

The Pelele or Lip-Ring 493 

Village in Manyuema . Full Page 494 

Native Suspension Bridge across the Lulindi. . • . . . . 496 

Native African Arrow-Heads and Weapons 499 

Kasongo and His Court Full Page 500 

Slave-Driver and Slave . 502 



ILLUSTRATIONS, 



XIX 



Eeception of Cameron by Katende Full Page 504 

Native Women Carrying Their Children on the March. . Full Page 506 

Burial of Edward Pocock Full Page 510 

Curious African Head-Dress. . 511 

Signs of Trouble Full Page 512 

Attacked by Great War Canoe. Full Page 518 

Pursued by a Fleet of War Canoes Full Page 520 

Reception of Stanley by Mtesa's Body Guard. . . Full Page 524 

Mtesa Executes a Few Subjects in Honor of a Visitor. Full Page 526 

A Waganda Band 528 

Approach to Mtesa's Palace and Capital Full Page 530 

Hostile Reception at Bumbireh Island Full Page 534 

Baffled Savages Full Page 540 

Great Naval Battle between the Waganda and Wavuma. Full Page 546 
War Canoe of the Wavuma Advancing to Battle. . . Full Page 548 

Hot Springs of Mtagata Full Page 552 

Stanley and His Force on the March. .... Full Page 556 

Fighting Their Way around the Cataracts. . . . Full Page 5G0 

Cutting Our Way Through the Forest Full Page 564 

Rescue of Zaidi by Uledi Full Page 568 

Fight at the Confluence of the Aruwimi and Congo Rivers. Full Page 574 

Battle with Fleet of War Canoes Full Page 576 

Death of Kalulu ' . . 577 

Shooting the Rapids of the Congo Full Page 578 

Death of Frank Pocock Full Page 580 

Stanley's Captains and Their Wives Full Page 584 

The Sova Mavanda Dancing for Major Serpa Pinto. . Full Page 592 

Attack on the Encampment in the Lui Full Page 594 

Conveyance of the Boats at Gohha Full Page 596 

In the Rapids Full Page 598 

Shooting Lions by Magnesium Light Full Page 600 

Major Serpa Pinto and Remnant of Expedition. . . Full Page 602 

A Camp Disturbed 604 

Leopold IE., Ruler of the Congo Free State 606 

A Trading Canoe on the Congo. 612 

Human Sacrifice. 616 

Grave of a Chief Decorated with Skulls of Human Victims. . 618 

Crossing River with Ox-Team Full Page 620 

Another Mode of River-Crossing 621 

Discovering a Camp of the Dreaded Makanga. . . Full Page 622 

Midnight Rescue on the Lake Full Page 624 

Running the Gauntlet Full Page 626 

Protecting a Hostage. Full Page 628 

Kilimanjaro and the Njiri Plain. Full Page 632 

Just in the Nick of Time Full Page 634 

Propelled Skyward. . j Full Page 638 

An Upset - Full Page 640 

At Close Quarters . . Full Page 642 

An Elephant Hunts the Hunter. Full Page 644 

Rage of a Wounded Lion Full Page 648 

A Ducking. 649 

Map Showing Sources of Slave Supply 651 

Ismail, Ex-Khedive of Egypt 653 

Fac-Simile of Firman Granted Sir S.W. Baker. . . Full Page 656 
Hauling Steamer through the Reeds of the Nile. . . Full Page 658 

Death of the Blind Sheikh Full Page 662 

Arab Slave-Traders Attacking a Village. . . . Full Page 664 

Night Attack on Station at Gondokoro Full Page 668 

Assault upon Stockades at Belinian Full Page 670 

Amarn : Freed Abyssinian Slave-Boy • . 672 

2 



XX 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Musical Enthusiasts. ..'...,... Full Page 674 

Making Blood-Brotherhood 678 

Ket-Hunting in the Shooli Tribe. ,,,. . Full Page 680 

Charge of a Lioness. . Full Page 682 

Destruction of Lieut.-Col. Tayib Agha's Detachment. . Full Page 684 
Embarrassing Results of Sudden Emancipation. . . Full Page 686 

King John's Palace 690 

Khartoom Full Page 692 

Slaves from Slaver Captured by the Undine. . . . Full Page 696 

A Head of Hair 701 

Some of Emin Pasha's Irregulars Full Page 706 

"Man overboard !" — Transferring Passengers to Congo River 

Boat. Full Page 720 

Stanley Instructing Maj.Barttelot 723 

Portrait of Tippu Tib 725 

Wounding of Lieut. Stairs. Cartoon 726-7 

Carrying the Steel Boat through the Forest 730 

Stanley Showing His Followers the Promised Land. . . . 732 

Fighting in Mazamboni's Country Full Page 736 

Burning Villages in Mazamboni's Country. . . . Cartoon 740-1 
Landing of Emin Pasha and Capt. Casati. . . . Full Page 744 

Fighting in the African Bush Full Page 746 

Sectional Steel Boat Used in the Expedition 748 

The First Sight of Lake Albert Nyanza Cartoon 752-3 

Negotiating with Tippu Tib at Stanley Falls. . . . Full Page 760 
Midnight Raid and Burning of l!^ative Village by Arabs. Full Page 762 

Savage Forest Tree-Dwellers Full Page 766 

Fort Bodo : Reserve Depot of Expedition. . . . Full Page 768 
Mr. Jephson Reading the Khedive's Letter to the Rebel 

Officers Full Page 770 

Rebel Officers Torturing the Mahdi's "Peacock'» Dervishes Cartoon 772-3 

Emin Pasha in Camp 782 

Camping on the Lake : Cutting Wood for Steamer. . Full Page 786 

Meeting of Emin Pasha and Mr. Stanley. . . . Cartoon 788-9 

Stanley and His Machine Gun Full Page 796 

Stanley and Emin's March to the Coast Full Page 804 

Wonderful Native Suspension Bridge across African River. . 809 

Portrait of Maj. Wissmann. 819 

Portrait of Dr. Peters 821 

Presentation to Mr. Stanley of the Order of Zanzibar. . . . 822 

The British and German Fleets Escorting Mr. Stanley on His 

Return Full Page 824 




AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN GARDEN. 



STANLEY 

AND THE • 

WHITE HEROES IN AFRICA. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE OUTSKIRTS OF A COKTIJ^EKT, 

lEFORE giving any account of later African exploration 
as prosecuted by adventurous spirits from modern civil- 
ized nations, it will be well to glance over the past, and 
take, as it were, a bird's-eye view of occurrences and 
progress in those parts of "The Dark Continent" where 
history had already been made, some of it thousands of 
years old. From what is to follow it will be seen that Africa 
has been penetrated by civilization, or, rather, semi-civiliza- 
tion, only on its outskirts. The vast area of its central barba- 
rism has always remained comparatively a terra incognita — a 
deep and dark mystery of tens of millions of savage tribes and 
teeming animal and vegetable life, occasionally penetrated a 
little way by some humble missionary, daring adventurer or 
desperate military expedition. 

A brief comparison of Africa with other parts of the world 
shows that in point of size, it ranks next to Asia; the coast of 
Africa has been so thoroughly explored that its area may be 
definitely calculated ; it is about three-fourths the size of Asia, 
more than three times as large as Europe, one and one-half 
times as large as all North America, or four-fifths as large as 
North and South America together. 

This vast land, the Continent of Deserts, as it has been call- 
ed, supports a population greater, according to the estimates 
of good authorities, than the population of North and South 
America combined. Its mountains may not tower to such a 
height as the Himalayas; but in comparison with its rivers, 

23 



24 THE OUTSKIRTS OF A CONTINENT. 

the streams of other continents, with the exception of the 
Mississippi and the Amazon, are scarcely worthy to be men- 
tioned. The great Nile, beloved bythe Egyptians, which receives 
no tributary for more than a thousand miles, and yet maintains 
the volume of its stream as it passes along the very edge of 
the desert, has been known for so long a time that we need not 
here compare it with the rivers of other continents ; shrouded 
in mystery for thousands of years as its sources have been, it 
has ever been ranked as one of the longest, if not the longest 
river of the world; and the judgment has not been reversed by 
modern explorations. But it is the Congo which is the most 
notable river of this great continent; it is the Congo which is 
for us the most wonderful discovery made known by these 
many adventurers, at the cost of such fearful loss of human 
life. 

The Amazon, the Mississippi, the Nile, the Ganges, the Vol- 
ga, all discharge their waters by means of several streams, 
forming, by their alluvial deposits, deltas. But the mighty 
flood of the Congo sweeps far out to sea the deposits which 
might otherwise obstruct its mouth, and, by a single stream, 
seven miles and a half broad, and in many places twelve hun- 
dred feet deep, it pours into the Atlantic a volume of water 
which is, at the lowest estimate, twice as great as that of the 
Mississippi at the time of the March floods ; and according to 
some authorities, nearly four times as great. According to 
Stanley's calculations, when the river is lowest, the volume at 
a point two hundred and fifty miles inland from the sea is 
gi^eater by one-fourth than the greatest outflow of the Mississ- 
ippi, at the season above stated. Is it wonderful that the ear- 
liest explorers sought to ascend this mighty river? 

All the histories tell us that Egypt was the seat of Africa's 
earliest civilization; but if we may trust tradition, there was a 
time when Egypt had no existence : the land of the Nile was once 
buried beneath the waters of the Mediterranean. According to 
this tradition, after its emergence, it was settled by colonies 
from Ethiopia or Nubia. This is the Nubian tradition on the 
subject; but the theory seems to be unnoticed by the Egyp- 
tians. The Ethiopians of the days of Diodorus claimed that 
the Egyptians had learned their arts and sciences from the an- 
cestors of the more southern race. How far this is true, is 
neither important nor possible to determine ; but it must be 
remembered that there is a remarkable similarity between the 
monuments of antiquity existing in Egypt and those existing 
in Nubia. The tradition is supported by figures which are 



THE OUTSKIRTS OF A CONTINENT. 25 

found in temples at Philse and Elephantine ; in these places are 
sculptures representing priests of a red color, a hue which in 
Egyptian representations symbolizes Egyptians, who are being 
consecrated by other men black in color. It will be remember- 
ed that the word Ethiopian means simply dark-skinned, and 
was originally applied to Arabs as well as to other races by the 
fair-skinned Greeks ; and Ethiopia was the ancient name of 
Nubia. These colored sculptures, then, would seem to give 
evidence that far back in antiquity the Nubians claimed that 
they had taught the Egyptian priests, and that the claim was 
allowed. 

It seems to be clear that the civilization of ancient Egypt 
was derived from Meroe; but, the question arises, whence 
came the civilization of Meroe? Proceeding down the river 
from this point, the people gradually reclaimed the land about 
its mouth, where there was one vast morass ; and the northern 
part of the country soon outstripped the older portion in de- 
velopment. 

As to the source of the laws of Meroe, and the correspond- 
ing development of the people in other respects, it is conjec- 
tured by some writers that their knowledge of arts, sciences, 
and government was derived from ancient India; but this is 
only an evasion of the difficulty; for if the civilization Of Me- 
roe was derived from India, where did the civilization of In- 
dia come from, and how did it get to Africa? 

The early history of Meroe, then, is the point at which we 
must begin; since discussion, or rather conjecture, of the 
times preceding are best left to the antiquarian specialist. 
The first great epoch of Egyptian history is called by the name of 
Menes. Authorities differ greatly as to the time at which this 
monarch lived, and this work is no place in which to discuss 
the chronology, there being as much variation in opinions 
of authorities as 5700 B. C. and 2000 B. C. — a difference of al- 
most four thousand years. 

Before the time of Menes, the nation is said to have led a 
strictly patriarchal life ; he instituted the first laws and di- 
vine worship, built the temple of Ptah, turned the course 
of the Nile to the westward of its original direction, founded 
Memphis, and finally met the end of being devoured by a croc- 
odile. 

How much of these wonders were accomplished by Menes, 
and how many by his successors, it is, to say the least, doubtful ; 
this dynasty reigned about two hundred and fifty years ; and 
some of the older pyramids are attributed to the race of Menes. 



THE OUTSKIRTS OF A CONTINENT. 27 

The greatest name with which we meet in this early history is 
perhaps that of Cheops, a king of the fourth dynasty. Every 
schoolboy knows that the largest of the great pyramids of 
Gizeh bears the name of this king, who built it by means of a 
forced conscription, and thus caused his name to be handed 
down to posterity as that of a tyrant, equally feared and hated 
by his people. 

The arrival of a tribe of thirty-six persons of Semitic race, 
during the supremacy of the twelfth dynasty, is supposed to 
have reference to the removal of Jacob and his sons to Egypt. 
The Shepherd Kings made themselves masters of the country 
during the era of the fifteenth dynasty; but the Egyptian 
kings of Upper Egypt overthrew them, and restored the legit- 
mate line in the sixteenth dynasty. 

The city of Thebes was, for many years, the object of the 
peculiar care of the Egyptian kings, and was embellished 
with many of the fruits of their conquests. Syria, part of 
Mesopotamia, Assyria, Phoenicia and Central Asia paid trib- 
ute to them, and this tribute was converted to the use of the 
city and its temples. This was during the era of the seven- 
teenth dynasty ; a period when not only foreign countries were 
made to contribute to the glory of Egypt, but her own powers 
were taxed to do so. The ancient temples were restored; the 
quarries of Turah were opened ; the copper-mines of Magarah 
recovered. The famous monument of this period is the great 
Sphinx. 

The kings of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties ceased 
to use, as sepulchers, the- pyramids which their predecessors had 
built for that purpose ; and excavated long tunnels in the moun- 
tains of the Arabian chain west of Thebes. But there were few 
innovations in Egyptian art, as a rule. Being strictly symbolic, a 
change in form destroyed or changed the meaning. There is a 
story of an artist who had grown tired of seeing the gods rep- 
resented with their feet close together, and sculptured one 
image, having one foot a little in advance of the other; and 
was nearly *' lynched" by the indignant populace for his orig- 
inality ; since to place the gods in such a position of motion 
would indicate the possibility of their leaving Egypt. 

Thirty dynasties of native kings ruled this ancient coun- 
try, before it was . made a mere province of another govern- 
ment. In the year 340 B. C. it became subject to Persia; and 
from that time its history is the history of a subjugated people. 

The next important event, after this conquest, was the over- 
throw of the Persian rule by Alexander the Great, and the found- 



28 



THE OUTSKIRTS OF A CONTINENT. 



ation of Alexandria. This city, one of eighteen Avhich bore the 
name of the great conqueror, is the only one which to-day is 
known by its ancient appellation. When Egypt passed under the 
Greek rule, it became the center of learning and philosophy, 
and was long famous for its schools, its museum, and its li- 
brary. 

The battle of Actium, in 30 B. C, made Egypt a Roman 
province, the last of the Greek rulers being Cleopatra. Its 
governors from this time forth were Romans of the equestrian 
order, or that rank next below the Senatorial. 

At the division of the empire, near the close of the fourth 
century of our era, Egypt fell to the Eastern Empire, and 




The Nile at Oil C no 

eventually became one of the great patriarchates of the East- 
ern or Greek Church, the patriarch of Alexandria being es- 
teemed equal in dignity to him of Constantinople. But relig- 
ious feuds arose, which ended in civil dissensions; and the 
country fell under the rule of Persia. In this condition it 
continued for twelve years; the Persian viceroy then en- 
deavored to throw off the yoke of his own country, and 
make himself independent king of Egypt. In order to accom- 
plish this, he called in the Arabs to help him. They did indeed 
assist him to throw off the supremacy of Persia, but only to es- 
tablish their own; and Omar I. became ruler of Egypt in 
the year 640 of our era, the 19th of the hegira. 

Cairo was built about forty years later, and strongly f orti- 



THE OUTSKIRTS OF A CONTINENT. 29 

fied by subsequent rulers. Egypt remained independent under 
its Mohammedan rulers until 1517, Avhen it became a province 
of Turkey, administered by pashas. Constant rebellions of the 
Mamelukes, and the violence of contending factions, distract- 
ed the- country, and rendered it incapable even of such pros- 
perity as a Turkish province may hope to enjoy. Invaded by 
Bonaparte in 1798, the entire country was held by France for 
three years ; but they were finally expelled by the united ef- 
forts of the Turks and British, and the government restored 
to the Ottoman Porte. From that time, the history may be 
briefly summed up, being too well known to require that more 
should be done than simply to refresh the memory as to dates. 
The rise of Mohammed Ali in 1806 seemed to be the beginning 
of a new era of prosperity; the Mamelukes were destroj^ed, a 
regular army was formed, security was increased, irrigation 
(here of vital importance) was improved, and European civi- 
lization introduced. Parts of Arabia and Syria were also ren- 
dered tributary, and it was probable at one time that Moham- 
med would become sultan. But the quadruple alliance in 1840 
interfered with his plans, and reduced him to the previous 
condition of pasha of Egypt. M. de Lesseps' scheme of 
the Suez Canal did much for the material prosperity of Egj^pt 
at the time; though the wretched mismanagement of the 
finances, as in most Mohammedan countries, undoes the effect 
of much that would otherwise be beneficial. 

The condition of the Egyptian finances became so hopelessly 
involved that in 1876 the revenue was put under the manage- 
ment of European commissioners; but this system proving 
unsuccessful, another commission of inquiry was appointed. 
Such was the influence which they exerted that before long it 
was announced that the khedive had accepted the European 
idea of constitutional government, and had appointed a min- 
istry. When the pressure was removed, however, the khe- 
dive arose from this subject condition; and in 1879, summa- 
rily dismissed the ministry so formed. The affairs of Egypt 
were again made the subject of international discussion, and 
the offending khedive was finally deposed by his suzerain, the 
sultan of Turkey, the late ruler's eldest son being proclaimed 
viceroy in his stead. 

The history of Nubia is so bound up with that of Egypt, 
that but little need be said concerning it. The term Nubia is 
comparatively modern, the old name of this country being 
Ethiopia, in allusion, as above stated, to the dark complexions 
of the inhabitants. These, however, are not of the negro 



30 



THE OUTSKIRTS OF A CONTINENT. 



race, but are more nearly akin to the Egyptians. The coun- 
try had been independent of Egypt until 1820, when it was sub- 
dued and brought under the rule of its ancient masters. The 
chief attraction to travelers is in the ruins of ancient temples 
and other monuments of the Egyptian race. 

To the south-east of Nubia lies a country which was the ob- 
ject of interest enhanced by mystery, even in the far back days 
of Solomon. From Abyssinia, very probably, came the Queen 
of the South to visit the wise king at Jerusalem; and it is 
claimed among the Abyssinians to this day that their monarch 




Palace of the Khedive at Alexandria. 

is descended in direct line from Solomon and the queen of 
Sheba. Converted to Judaism upon the return of their queen, 
the people of this country retained that faith, in more or less 
purity, until the ipiddle of the fourth century of our era, when 
they were converted to Christianity by missionaries from Alex- 
andria. There was a temporary return to Judaism in the tenth 
century; but on the fall of the usurping monarch who had re- 
introduced the older religion, the people came back to the 
Christian faith. 

Abyssinia has always been in the midst of enemies ; and fre- 
quently it has taxed her powers to the utmost to preserve her 



THE OUTSKIRTS OF A CONTINENT. 31 

independence. During the fifteenth century, the people ap- 
pealed to the Portuguese for assistance ; it was promised, on 
condition that they rejected the Greek Catholic faith, which 
they had professed for more than a thousand years, and ac- 
cepted that of their new allies, the Eoman Catholic form of 
belief. To this condition the rulers agreed, and Portuguese 
missionaries were sent to Abyssinia. 

But the people could not be persuaded to accept the new 
faith; and this division between monarch and subjects weak- 
ened the power of the former. There was a long struggle be- 
tween them, which, like most religious wars, was conducted 
with very little religion visible on either side. Finally, the 
people triumphed; the Portuguese missionaries were banished, 
the old form of worship was restored, and the king became a 
mere puppet in the hands of .his nominally subject chiefs. 

The dissensions introduced by the effort to establish a new 
creed were followed by troubles from without : the Turks on 
the north, and the Gallas on the south, constantly harassed the 
unfortunate people. But after the Portuguese missionaries 
left the country, Abyssinia seems to have sunk into profound 
darkness, so far as the rest of the world was concerned ; it was 
as nearly forgotten as any country on the face of the earth 
could be; and it was not until after the travels of Bruce had 
been made public that it was recalled to the minds of men. 

It is not our purpose in this chapter to follow the steps of 
any discoverer; that must belong to a later part of the volume. 
We take up the narrative, then, at the point where Bruce and 
his immediate successors leave it. 

These immediate successors of Bruce did not indeed pene- 
trate to the heart of the country, as he had done ; but although 
they made use of his observations, they endeavored to throw 
much discredit on his assertions regarding points which they 
had not reached ; and their efforts were one of the chief agen- 
cies in causing his statements to be received with incredulity. 

When the French were to all appearance engaged in a strug- 
gle for the conquest of the world. Great Britain, that no pow- 
er, however insignificant, might be neglected, sent an envoy to 
the court of Abyssinia. This gentleman, however, went no 
farther than Tigre, the northern province of the kingdom; 
and when there was no further danger from Napoleon, even 
this effortr at intercourse was given up. 

A little later than this, there was a Protestant mission sent 
to this country; but some civil disorders, in which the mission- 
aries remained faithful to the displaced chiefs, caused them to 



32 THE OUTSKIRTS OF A CONTINENT. 

be sent from the country. Roman Catholic missions were then 
established ; and for some time the chief missionary was re- 
garded by the natives with almost as much respect as their own 
bishop, nominally of the Greek Catholic Church, if it can be 
called so when it had no positive connection with the head of 
that organization. 

In 1847, a British consul was sent to Abyssinia; but, unfor- 
tunately, his headquarters were fixed at Massowah, which is 
just without the boundaries of the kingdom ; and this was by 
no means pleasing to the Abyssinians. Things were in this 
condition with relation to the outer world when the renewal 
of internal broils gave new interest to the country's history. 

When the power of the kings had become limited to the 
mere title, the real authority was vested in a number of chiefs, 
each of whom bore the title ras. One of these chiefs, in the 
early part of the present century, named Dejaj Comfu, ruled 
over a province of Amhara, the central part of the empire. 
His brother had died and left a widow and son, the latter 
named Kassai, who were so poor that the mother supported 
herself and child by selling kosso. When Kassai grew up, he 
joined the army of his uncle, who was engaged in a contest 
with the Turks, and distinguished himself by his courage. De- 
jaj Comfu died suddenly; his three sons quarreled about their 
inheritance, and a neighboring chief was called in to settle the 
dispute. He proposed to end the matter by assuming the au- 
thority hijnself , and conquered the best part of the province. 
But Kassai resisted him, and, collecting a band of determined 
soldiers, fled to the mountain fastnesses. Here for a time he 
was involved in continual strife ; but at last the real ruler of 
the country, Ras Ali, the step-son of the king, recognized that 
it was a useless effort to try to subdue him, and consequently 
made terms. 

Ras Ali, to cement the alliance which he concluded with the 
rebel, gave him his daughter in marriage; and for a while 
everything was lovely. But Kassai, to whom we may now give 
the name of Theodore, which he assumed later on, insisted on 
being recognized as ras of Kuara. Ali determined to crush 
him; an army was sent against Kassai, and he was again driv- 
en to his mountain fastnesses. Issuing thence, he gave bat- 
tle, and defeated and slew the chief who had been sent against 
him. Ras Ali next took the field in person, although now the 
war was on his part rather defensive than aggressive ; Kassai 
drove him to the old stronghold of his family, where he 
maintained for a time a determined resistance, but was at last 



THE OUTSKIRTS OF A CONTINENT. 33 

obliged to yield. Ali then sought refuge in the country of the 
savage Gallas, where he died shortly afterward. 

Having secured the person of the king, Kassai called upon 
the chief of Tigre and Semen, Dejaj Ouble, to pay him tribute. 
The demand was refused ; nor was Kassai strong enough to en- 
force it. In the absence of power, he resorted to diplomacy, 
or, rather, to intrigue. The weight of the Church, he knew, 
would be against him in any contest with Ouble, for the bish- 
op was in his power; he therefore decided to tamper with the 
Padre de Jacobis, who, as already stated, had acquired much 
influence over the people. He assured the missionary that if 
he were king of Abyssinia, the Eoman Catholic religion 
should be restored ; and Padre de Jacobis promised his help 
with this condition. 

But in a battle fought in February, 1855, Ouble was defeat- 
ed and captured; with him was taken the Coptic bishop. AVith 
a lack of good faith which was afterward recognized as a 
prominent characteristic, Kassai approached the bishop, and, 
disregarding his agreement with Padre de Jacobis, entered in- 
to an agreement by which he, Kassai, was to be crowned king 
of Abyssinia by the Coptic bishop. A few days after the bat- 
tle, the ceremony took place; Kassai assuming the name of 
Theodore. 

The choice was not due to caprice ; there was an old tradi- 
tion that a King Theodore was to reign in Abyssinia, conquer 
the kingdom of Solomon, and restore the ancient glory of 
Ethiopia. Kassai, of course, represented that he was the per- 
son alluded to in the prophecy. He had some difficulty in 
persuading his people that he was a descendant of Solomon 
and the queen of Sheba, as their traditions declared that the 
ruler of Abyssinia must be ; and it does not appear that they 
were ever thoroughly convinced; but at any rate he silenced 
them for a time upon that subject. 

It does not appear, however, that Theodore ventured to ig- 
nore the real king; he used all the ceremony toward him 
which was demanded by the custom of the country; but soon 
after the coronation of Kassai took place, the king died sud- 
denly. Alarmed by this circumstance, the people submitted 
without a struggle ; and Theodore was left free to extend his 
dominions by foreign conquest. 

Various attempts at missionary work in Abyssinia were made 
during the period from 1856 to 1863, with the permission and 
approval of Theodore. For a time it seemed that friendly re- 
lations would be established between the great European pow- 



THE OUTSKIRTS OF A CONTINENT. 35 

ers and this far-off, half ^savage country ; but the suspicious 
jealousy of the king, and an unfortunate chain of circumstan- 
ces, doomed this hope to disappointment. Infuriated by what 
he considered insults to his royal dignity, Theodore received 
coldly all attempts at explanation; English messengers were 
overawed by being received by the king surrounded by lions, 
and were robbed of their dispatches and maltreated ; English- 
men were tried for the crime of disrespect to him, and sen- 
teaced to death. The missionaries and the English consul 
were arrested and imprisoned ; the envoy who was sent to 
treat with him, was kept waiting for a year, and then was 
thrown into prison. Theodore now conducted himself like a 
madman, and subjected men, women and children who fell in- 
to his power to inhuman tortures. The British government 
demanded the release of the imprisoned subjects of the queen; 
he took no notice of the communication. An expedition was 
accordingly fitted out at Bombay for the invasion of his coun- 
try; and although delayed considerably, at last reached Abys- 
sinia and came within sight of Magdala, a small town to which 
the royal residence had been removed from Gondar. Here the 
Abyssinian and the English forces encountered each other ; and 
Theodore sustained such a decided defeat that he gave up all 
the European captives in his hands. Three days later, Mag- 
dala was stormed, and taken; among the Abyssinians killed in 
the assault was Theodore. 

The history of Theodore may be considered the point of cul- 
minating interest in Abyssinian history ; and with his death we 
now pause, leaving things of later interest to be considered at 
another time. 

Eeturning now to the northern part of Africa, since that is 
the portion which has been longest known to the civilized 
world, we find Fezzan upon our path. This country, indeed, 
is hardly to be included in the list of those with which ancient 
Europe was acquainted ; and its history may be briefly sum- 
med up. The original inhabitants belonged to the Berber 
race, the aborigines of northern Africa ; but it was invaded by 
the Arabs in the fifteenth century, and the original inhabi- 
tants have sunk into insignificance. It is now attached to the 
government of Tripoli. It remained comparatively unknown, 
so far as Europe and America were concerned, until attention 
was directed to it by these African exjDlorers who made Mour- 
zouk their starting-point. 

The Barbary States comprise that territory which to the 
Eomans was emphatically Africa, that portion of the con- 
3 



THE OUTSKIRTS OF A CONTINENT. 37 

tinent which has been styled the forehead of Africa. Its most 
famous cities in antiquity were Carthage and Utica, founded 
by the Phoenicians, and Cyrene, a Greek colony. But these 
were near the coast, and the country south of them was un- 
known, and peopled by tribes of Mauri and Numidians, wholly 
uncivilized. The Carthaginian territory became a Roman 
province; and the same yearthat saw the destruction of Car- 
thage saw Greece and her dependencies brought wholly under 
the Roman rule. The African provinces were among the 
richest which acknoAvledged the authority of Augustus ; and 
although there w^as a nominal sovereign, he was tributary to 
the great emperor. The ruins of large towns and of splendid 
monuments and useful works, here, as elsewhere, attest the 
power and the practical skill of the Romans. 

As the Roman power declined in Europe, Barbary suffered; 
for there were wild native tribes that had not been wholly sub- 
dued, there were religious differences, there were ambitious 
Roman officials who saw in the weakening of the central pow- 
er an opportunity to strengthen their own authority until it be- 
came independent. Any one of these causes would be sufficient 
to distract a state ; what, then, must have been the result of 
all combined! Weakened by such troubles, they fell an easy 
prey to the Vandals, who subdued the country, and savagely 
misgoverned it for more than a century. After their expulsion 
by Belisarius, the native tribes of the Mauri and the Berbers 
made themselves masters of the interior, and the Romans and 
Greeks, or the representatives of these ancient peoples, were 
restricted to a few points on the coast. 

In the seventh century, shortly after the hegira, began that 
great wave of Mohammedan c'onquest which swept along all 
the shores of the Mediterranean, sparing only Italy. Greece 
fell ; Spain was invaded and no small portion of it held by the 
new-comers. They established themselves in Africa with lit- 
tle difficulty, and before the end of the eighth century, nearly 
all the inhabitants of the Barbary States had either been slain 
or compelled to embrace the Mohammedan religion. An Arab 
dynasty was established ; and has been practically maintained, 
although the territory has been divided into different govern- 
ments. 

Morocco was formed into a separate monarchy about the end 
of the fifteenth century. It enjoyed considerable prosperity, 
and its limits were extended at one time, as far south as Tim- 
buctoo. But this great empire soon fell to pieces; and in 1642 
the present dynasty became the rulers of Morocco and Fez, to 



Tim otJtsKiRTs OF A coxTi^^ENT. B9 

which their sovereignty was limited. Rebellions of the moun- 
tain tribes and other domestic disturbances have retarded the 
development of the country, even during the present century ; 
and it is a sufficient commentary upon its condition less than a 
hundred 3'ears ago to state that in 1814 the slavery of Christ- 
ians was formally abolished, and three years later the govern- 
ment officially condemned the system of piracy. 

Tripoli was the second of the Barbary States to assume an 
independent history. Conquered by the Turks shortly after 
the middle of the sixteenth century, the sovei-eign authority of 
the sultan was more or less strong, according as the local ruler 
was a man of ability and popularity. It had been practically 
nothing for something over a century when, in 1835, an expe- 
dition was sent out from Constantinople, which overthrew and 
imprisoned the ruling dey, and established a new Turkish pasha, 
who should be more strictly dependent upon the main govern- 
ment. 

Toward the close of the sixteenth century, Tunis appears as 
a distinct state from the remainder of Barbary. In 1575, it 
was conquered by the Turks and made a province of their em- 
pire. This suzerainty has fluctuated from time to time, and 
is not now felt, since the French have established themselves 
as the practical masters of the country. 

Algeria was, from the time of the Mohammedan conquests, 
divided into a number of petty states. We hear of it in con- 
nection with the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, as afford- 
ing an asylum to the refugees ; but its medieval reputation was 
exceedingly bad : it was nothing more or less than a nation of 
corsairs. For some reason or other, the attempts made by 
European nations, notably Spain, to crush them, were invari- 
ably unfortunate. The native ruler had, during the sixteenth 
century, put himself under the protection of the sultan; at 
the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Turkish janissar- 
ies obtained from their ruler the right to choose for them- 
selves a dey who should share the power of the pasha. The 
result of this divided authority was such dissension that the 
European nations took advantage of it, and made new at- 
tempts to chastise the pirates. But no decisive result follow- 
ed. 

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Algeria became 
practically independent of Turkey; and its career of crime 
was unchecked, even by that extremely slight limitation. At 
last the depredations became unbearable. The presence of 
powerful fleets in the Mediterranean during the Napoleonic 



THE OUTSKIRTS OF A CONTINENT. 41 

wars had to some extent kept them within bounds ; but this 
pressure removed, the Algerines became worse than ever. The 
United States was the first nation which undertook to chastise 
them; an American fleet defeated an Algerine fleet in 1815, 
and obliged them to recognize the invincibility of the Ameri- 
can flag. The English admiral had, about the same time, ex- 
.torted from the other Barbary States the recognition of the 
international law respecting the treatment of prisoners ; but 
Algeria refused to make such concessions to civilization. An 
English and Dutch fleet bombarded Algiers ; and after half 
the town had been laid in ruins, its batteries silenced and the 
fleet and magazines destroyed, the soldiers forced the dey to 
yield. A treaty was made in 1816 by which piracy was abol- 
ished (on paper) and Christian slaves to the number of more 
than a thousand released without ransom. 

The very next year, Algerian piracy was as bad as ever; and 
the dey returned only mocking and insulting answers to all re- 
monstrances. But his death in 1818 resulted in the succession 
of a dey under whom the Moslem power was overthrown and 
Algiers conquered by France. 

From this time forth, we find the history of Algeria a story 
of subjugation and conquest of the native tribes by the 
French. There is much gradual progress to record, toward 
civilization ; but nothing more that is necessary to the under- 
standing of the present state of Africa. 

SouthAvard from the coast of Morocco, extend the sea-limits 
of the Great Sahara Desert. Here, if the dreams of modern 
science are ever realized, there may be, some day, a great nation. 

While Senegambia was settled by three nations, the Portu- 
guese, the French, and the English, the latter have so far 
dominated the others that their settlements are the most note- 
worthy. The nucleus. Sierra Leone, was established in 1787, 
when four or five hundred destitute negroes of London w^ere 
sent thither by a party of philanthropists ; a few years later, 
some of the same race, to the number of almost twelve hun- 
dred, who had been colonized in Nova Scotia, were transfer- 
red to the home of their race ; the climate of the American 
peninsula having proved too severe for these children of the 
tropics. Since the abolition of the slave trade by Great Brit- 
ain in 1807, slaves captured by the British cruisers have been 
put ashore here, until the population amounts, according to 
the latest obtainable figures, to about forty thousand souls. 

The example of the British government in establishing an 
African colony for negroes was soon followed by the United 



42 



THE OUTSKIRTS OF A CONTINENT. 



States; and in the last day of 1816, an association was formed 
for the purpose of founding a colony of emancipated negroes. 
The first attempt was unsuccessful, a very unhealthy site hav- 
ing been chosen; but it was renewed in 1821, and since then 
the colony has continued to grow in numbers and wealth. 
There has not been the large emigration from the United 
States which the founders expected, but the Republic of Li- 
beria has maintained its ground. 




Native Diamond Thief Compelled to Disgorge, 

Portuguese settlements, the most important of which is St. 
Paul de Loanda, are scattered along the east cost of southern 
Africa ; but of Portuguese settlements in general we shall have 
more to say when we come to consider the eastern coast. Of 
the Congo Free State, this is not the place to speak, as the 
present pages are intended merely to show the state of Africa 
before the Stanley expeditions. 



TICE OtftSKIRtS Oe^ a CONTI>.'^fi^^. 43 

Dismissing thus summarily the various divisions which are 
marked on the map of what was once known as Lower Guinea, 
we come to the great settlement at the southern extremity of 
the continent. The first comers, here as in other parts of Af- 
rica, were the Portuguese ; but the first permanent settlement 
was made by the Dutch in 1652. The constant intercourse 
between Holland and her East Indian possessions made it de- 
sirable to have some sort of a half-way station, and it was for 
this that the settlement at the Cape of Good Hope was intend- 
ed. In the course of a hundred and fifty years, however, the 
dominion of the Dutch was gradually extended, until they 
were masters of nearly the whole of what is now known as 
Cape Colony. 

After a contest lasting for about ten years, this territory 
came into the hands of the British in 1806 ; since that time, 
many of the resources of the country have been developed. 

The most famous of these is the diamond-fields, which are 
in Griqualand, a section which has only within a comparative- 
ly short time been brought into Cape Colony. The Kimber- 
ley mine is the best known, because the most productive of 
large stones. The rich copper ore found in Namaqualand has 
added largely to the wealth of the colony. 

In 1856 Natal was erected into a separate colony, free from the 
control of the governor of the Cape. This region had been dis- 
covered by the Portuguese in 1497, and named by them from the 
circumstance that they landed on Christmas day. But no effort 
was made at settlement which proved at all successful until 
1838, when a number of Dutch Boers, emigrants from the Cape, 
established themselves here. There was a struggle between the 
Boers and the British, but five years after the settlement. Na- 
tal was formally proclaimed a British colony. The event of 
its history which is most readily recalled is the Zulu war of 
1879, in which Cetewayo and Sir Garnet Wolseley figured as 
the leaders, and in which the Prince Imperial of France met 
his death. 

The Boers, impatient of British rule, had retired to Natal 
from the Cape ; but the action of the British government in 
following them up to their new home caused them to establish 
themselves in yet another new country, which has been given 
the name of the Orange Kiver Free State. The country was de- 
scribed, in 1836, as a "howling wilderness," but after Natal was 
declared a British colony in 1843, the few settlers who had, be- 
tween these two years, taken refuge there, had their numbers 
largely increased by dissatisfied Boers from both the Cape and 



4A THE OUTSKIRTS OF A CONTtNEKT. 

Natal. In spite of their efforts to escape the rule of the Cape 
authorities, this new settlement was, after much opposition, 
annexed to the British Empire ; but it proved to be ungovern- 
able, and in 1854, it was formally given up, and the inhabi- 
tants formed a government according to their own wishes. 

Driven from Cape Colony to Natal, from Natal to Orange Kiv- 
er territory, the Boers who feared that the annexation of the 
latter country to the British crown would be a permanent one, 
again retreated across the Yaal. Here they established settle- 
ments, which in time came to be known as the Transvaal Eepub- 
lic ; and this was maintained until 1877. In that year the British 
decided to annex this, too, to their empire ; but the Boers thought 
otherwise ; and, after a struggle, the independence of the country 
was maintained. It should be noted that while the British au- 
thorities unite in accusing the Boers of all possible crimes to- 
ward the natives, the Boers have maintained themselves peace- 
ably in South Africa, while the British have waged no less than 
seven bloody wars with the natives during the period of their 
dominion. 

The Portuguese settlements along the eastern coast have been 
made with a view to trading with the natives. The principal 
article of traffic has been slaves. "Around these places the 
natives are more demoralized than in any other part of Africa, 
European vices being grafted on the baser passions -of heath- 
enism. The white race, which ought to be the type of a high- 
er and purer mode, of life, has become degraded and hateful 
in the eyes of the natives." 

A notice of Madagascar will be more appropriate in connec- 
tion with the subject of mission work in Africa; and other 
territories, which have come into prominence since African 
discovery received the impulse which has culminated in the 
expeditions of Stanley, will be briefly noticed in connection 
with the travelers who first made them known. 



CHAPTER 11. 



EARLY EXPLORATIOjYS OF AFRICA. 

/^JTLTHOUGH the country which occupies its extreme 
Ij northeastern portion was the seat of the earliest civiliz- 
ation known to the world, Africa has long been, above 
all others, the continent of mystery. Egypt had solved 
engineering problems which are not far within the capacity of 
the nineteenth century, before Greece and Eome had learned 
the rudiments of art or science ; and Greece and Eome were the 
teachers of all Europe ; yet every nook and corner of Europe has 
been thoroughly explored, while there are still vast wildernesses 
in Africa where the white man's foot has never trod. Less than a 
century ago, even the great rivers had not been followed to 
their sources ; the Nile itself came from a region of mystery, 
and no man had fathomed the secret of those annual overflows 
which had enriched Egypt since the days of the first Pharaohs. 
The interest in the exploration of Africa, however, the de- 
sire to know more of this great tract which lies so directly un- 
der the equator, is not altogether of modern gro\\i;h. The 
Father of History himself, Herodotus, who lived in the fifth 
century before our era, endeavored to obtain accurate inform- 
ation regarding Africa. For this purpose, he visited Egypt in 
person; but the Egyptians could not tell him much. They 
knew only a portion of the northern coast, besides their own 
country. The region nearest to them was well known, and we 
find full accounts of the temple of Jupiter Ammon and the 
wonderful spring in its vicinity ; but as we follow the account 
of the historian, in his description of the peoples living far- 
ther toward the West, we find them less satisfactory. For 
some distance beyond Carthage, indeed, the character of the 
soil and the nature of the inhabitants are accurately described ; 
but soon we find fact mingled with fable, and at last we come to 

45 



4^ EARLY EXPLORATIOJS^S OI^ AI^fet6A. 

the long and lofty range of Atlas, which is the pillar of heaven, 
and beyond which the historian does not think of going. 

But even before the days of Herodotus, the Carthaginians, 
those adventurous mariners of antiquity, who without chart or 
compass had come even to Cornwall, had coasted beyond the 
Pillars of Hercules, as the rocks on either side of the Strait of 
Gibraltar were called, and traded with the natives. Just how 
far down the western coast of Africa they went, modern au- 
thorities have not agreed among themselves. A naval expedi- 
tion set out from Carthage about the year 570 B. C, under 
Hanno as commander, which passed far beyond the entrance 
to the Mediterranean. Gosselin says that they reached the 
point where the Sahara begins ; Eennell considers that they 
succeeded in passing this barren coast, and finished their ex- 
pedition about the point where Free Town now stands ; while 
Bougainville believes them to have been still more adventur- 
ous, and to have gone as far as Cape Three Points, which is 
about the middle of the southern coast of Guinea. This last 
theory has not been accepted by many authorities ; and the ques- 
tion really is, did they pass the desert coast or not? One an- 
swer supposes a run of six hundred miles ; the other, a voyage 
five times as long. Hanno had a fleet of sixty vessels, with 
thirty thousand souls on board; it hardly seems credible that 
so vast a number could have carried with them, in the compar- 
atively small vessels of the times, a sufficient stock of food and 
water to serve them during their slow and uncertain passage 
along the coast of Sahara; and the account which has come 
down to us distinctly tells us that they were forced to turn 
back, because of the sterile and inhospitable nature of the 
coast. 

It is not until after the destruction of Carthage that Eudoxus, 
a native of the city of Cyzicus, comes upon the scene as an Af- 
rican explorer ; and there is no other, of any note, until his 
day. Alexandria was then the center of naval enterprise, and 
her Greek rulers the most zealous patrons of all undertakings 
of the kind. To Ptolemy Euergetes the adventurer appealed, 
and the question of exploring the Nile to its sources was seri- 
ously discussed. But the arrival of a native of India, whom 
some Alexandrian sailors had rescued from shipwreck, turn- 
ed their attention to India; and for a Avhile the subject of Af- 
rican exploration was permitted to rest. Eudoxus made one 
voyage to India, and set out upon a second; but was driven by 
a storm upon the coast of Africa, shortly after emerging from 
the Red Sea. The coast line here extends toward the south- 



EARLY EXPLORATIONS OF AFRICA. 47 

west ; and Eudoxus was inspired with the idea that the circuit 
of Africa, from the entrance to the Red Sea to that of the Med- 
iterranean, was to be made by a determined navigator. From 
that time forth he was possessed by one ambition, to be the 
circumnavigator of Africa. 

Whether he succeeded or not, is not clear; in the strict 
sense of the words, he did not succeed, for he did not make 
the whole circuit. It may be that he coasted along all that 
portion of the seaboard which had not been previously ex- 
plored; but certainly his voyage did not extend from the 
Straits of Bab-el-mandeb to that of Gibraltar. One observation 
which he records led the geographers of antiquity to believe 
that he was fabling ; it proves to us that he told the truth : he 
narrates that when he had passed a certain point on his voy- 
age, the sun shone to the northward of his vessel. The an- 
cients, unacquainted with the southern hemisphere, could not 
credit this ; they believed the assertion to be on a par with his 
accounts of peoples without tongues, and of those who hav- 
ing no mouth, received all their food through the nose. To us, 
on the other hand, this observation of a phenomenon previously 
unknown is proof positive that he passed the equator. From a 
careful examination of his assertions, it appears probable that 
he did not accomjolish his great object, even if we take the 
limited meaning of the term circumnavigation above stated ; 
but sailed as far south along the eastern coast as Cape Del- 
gado, about ten degrees south of the equator. 

The explorations of Eudoxus were made about the year 130 
B. C. ; and so little credence did his theory that Africa was 
bounded on all sides by the ocean obtain,that Ptolemy the geog- 
rapher, who lived during the second century of our era, repres- 
ented the Indian Ocean as an inland sea, bounded on the south 
by Africa, which extended easterly and then northerly until 
it reached the coast of China. His delineation of the northern 
coast of this continent was, in the main, correct; but he be- 
lieved the western coast to be nearly arstraight north and south 
line, instead of inclining nearly fifteen degrees of longitude 
from the Straits of Gibraltar to Cape Verde, as more modern 
surveys prove. He draws the eastern coast nearly correct, as 
far south as the equator; and for more than a thousand years, 
there was but very little more than this known of the Dark 
Continent. 

We are accustomed to consider Mohammedanism as the foe 
of all progress ; but the case was different during the middle 
ages. When the faith of Islam was first firmly established, the 



48 



EARLY EXPLORATIONS OF AFRICA. 



Saracen princes became the patrons of art and science ; and 
their schools became famous seats of learning. Their con- 
quests had extended far to the West, and they had obtained a 




Moorish Warrior. 

foothold even in Europe itself, in the domains of the most 
Catholic King. Across the Mediterranean, they had estab- 
lished themselves in Morocco and other Barbary States ; here 



EARLY EXPLORATIONS OF AFRICA. 49 

they early introduced the camel, useful to their native Arabian 
deserts, and soon to become indispensable in Africa. By the 
aid of the ship of the desert, they crossed the vast wastes 
which had hitherto been impassable, and founded states along 
its southern boundary; their object being mainly commercial, 
since they wished to obtain gold and slaves from the natives. 

Many of the names recorded by the Arabian chroniclers are 
retained in a spelling but slightly varied at the present day. 
Their Ghana has become Kano, Tocrur is Takror, and Bornou 
is unchanged. 

Their account of western Africa is confused and vague, 
showing that their explorations and settlements Avere confined 
to the district about the Niger. Of the northern part of the 
eastern coast, they knew but little ; for Nubia and Abyssinia 
were both Christian countries, and the races of differing faiths 
were jealous of each other's explorations and investigations. 
South of Abyssinia, they had explored the coast pretty thor- 
oughly as far south as Madagascar, and had formed settle- 
ments at various points along the coast of Mozambique, which 
were in their possession when the earliest Portuguese naviga- 
tors ventured around the Cape of Good Hope and reached the 
eastern coast from the south. 

Rome, as the representative of western civilization, had, 
from the earliest times, made many efforts to extend her 
empire toward the East ; but had been steadily resisted by the 
Semitic races. These efforts were not relaxed, even after 
western civilization had found other representatives. Toward 
the end of the fifteenth century, however, the fall of Constan- 
tinople and the expulsion of the Moors from Spain seemed to 
establish the boundaries of the Aryan empire and of the Sem- 
itic; and the people of the former race, no longer struggling 
vainly for a foothold in the East, sought new worlds to con- 
quer in the West. Even before these events had actually 
come to pass, the results of the movement had begun to be felt. 
The same spirit which sent Columbus westward to find India, 
sent the Portuguese southward to explore the coast of Africa. 

The local position of Portugal, and its constant wars with 
Morocco, were the circumstances which seem to have directed 
the minds of the people to the exploration and settlement of 
Africa. Prince Henry, the younger son of John I., seems to 
have been the first man of any influence to undertake the 
work. Rapid progress was made along the shore of the Sa- 
hara, and before long the Portuguese navigators had reached 
that fertile country which we now call Senegambia. 



50 EARLY EXPLORATIONS OF AFRICA. 

There were many material advantages to be hoped for from 
a constant intercourse with this part of the world ; but the 
Portuguese were not content with looking for those things 
which they were sure existed. Some early travelers in eastern 
Asia had told of a mysterious personage whom they called 
Prester John ; probably some Nestorian bishop, possessed of a 
degree of temporal power. The Portuguese had heard vague 
rumors of the Christian king of Abyssinia, and forthwith con- 
cluded that he was Prester John. The dominions of this ru- 
ler, it was reported, reached far inland; and the adventurous 
spirits who had embarked upon this series of undertakings de- 
cided that it would be comparatively easy to reach his capital 
by an overland journey from the Grulf of Guinea. 

Their anticipations of the results of such success seem to 
have been as vague and uncertain as their knowledge; but 
whatever they expected to be the consequence of having reach- 
ed the court of Prester John, they spared no pains in the effort 
to do so. They penetrated into the interior as far as Timbuc- 
too, and must have gained a fairly accurate knowledge of that 
portion of the continent. Unfortunately, the information so 
acquired was either lost, or sedulously kept from the world 
at large, until modern discoveries had made their jealous se- 
crecy useless. 

They continued to prosecute their discoveries along the 
coast, and in 1471 reached the coast of Guinea, where they 
built Elmina, the Mine, so called because of its position on the 
Gold Coast. The Pope gave them a title to all lands which 
should be discovered in this part of the world, and the king of 
Portugal assumed the title of Lord of Guinea. Hitherto, the 
progress of the discoverers had been marked by wooden crosses ; 
but the king now gave orders that they were to erect stone 
pillars, twice the height of a man, surmounted by leaden cru- 
cifixes. In 1484, Diego Cam sailed from Lisbon, and erected 
such a pillar at what Avas then the most southerly limit of Portu- 
guese discovery — ^the mouth of the Congo, a river which, from 
this circumstance, has frequently been called "The Kiver of the 
Pillar" by the Portuguese writers. 

The Congo did not long remain the boundary, however. A 
number of the natives had been taken to Portugal by Cam, and 
an expedition to reconvey these to their native country set out 
in 1490. Many missionaries accompanied the fleet, and stren- 
ous efforts were made to Christianize the country. The na- 
tives, at first, willingly received the new faith; but when the 
missionaries discovered that they had not renounced polyg- 



EARLY EXPLORATIONS OF AFRICA. 51 

amy, and had no intention of doing so, it was found that the 
efforts had not been so siiccessful as they at first appeared. 
Other failures to renounce their former practices became ap- 
parent, and the missionaries became despondent ; one of them, 
it is said, died from the effects of the disappointment. 

How long they struggled against the persistency of pagan- 
ism, we do not know; we only know what were the results of 
their seK-sacrificing work in their voluntary exile. When Eu- 
ropeans again reached the mouth of the Congo, there was 
neither trace nor tradition of the Portuguese missionaries. 

Before the date of this second expedition to the Congo, 
which ended so disastrously for those who remained after the 
vessels had returned to Portugal, Bartolommeo Diaz had sail- 
ed southward, and approaching land when in about twenty-six 
degrees of south latitude, had followed the coast-line closely 
until he had almost reached the southern extremity. Here he 
was buffeted about by contrary winds ; but at last cast anchor 
in Algoa Bay, having rounded the Cape of Good Hope with- 
out knowing it. Being rejoined by his companion vessel, from 
w^hich the storm had separated him, he set out on his return; 
and then noted his discovery. The cape Avas at first called 
'* Cape of All the Storms;" but on his return, the king gave it 
the more auspicious name which it now bears. Diaz w^as greet- 
ed with much enthusiasm; but for some reason, was soon cast 
into the shade by Yasco de Gama, who was made his superior 
in the expedition of 1497. 

While Diaz was the discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope, 
Gama was the first to make any use of the discovery. In the 
year above named, he sailed around the southern point of the 
conj:inent, touched at various points on the eastern coast, which 
had hitherto been wholly unknown to Europeans, and secur- 
ing the services of an intelligent Arab pilot, struck boldly 
across the Indian Ocean for India. A second expedition, in 
in 1502, saw the founding of the Portuguese colonies of Mozam- 
bique and Sefala, on the eastern cost of Africa. 

The Portuguese supremacy over Guinea was ended when the 
mother country became involved in wars with the Dutch, 
which resulted favorably for Holland. Following close in 
the footsteps of the men of the Low Countries, came the French 
and English, lured by the hope of obtaining many slaves, and 
then by the expectation of finding in Africa another and a rich- 
er Peru. 

The first English expedition, which was dispatched in 1618, 
was under the command of Richard Thompson. It was f orm- 
4 



52 EARLY EXPLORATIONS OF AFRICA. 

ed for the purpose of exiDloring the Gambia, and reached the 
mouth of that river in December oi that year. The Englishmen 
met with fierce resistance from the Portuguese, of whom there 
were still many in this region ; but maintained their station on 
the river, and sent home for re-inf orcements. Most of the men 
upon the second expedition fell •victims to disease; the com- 
mander of the third party heard, shortly before reaching his 
destination, that Thompson had fallen by the hands of his own 
men. 

The fate of this first of English explorers of Africa has nev- 
er been fully investigated. The history of the times is full of 
perilous adventures in which the spirit of the leader was more 
daring than that of his men; possibly Thompson, like Colum- 
bus, would have urged his followers onward on an unknown 
path; but, unlike Columbus, met with no favoring signs at the 
critical moment. In the way of positive testimony, we have 
only the representations of the crew, that their leader was op- 
pressive and intolerable — interested evidence. 

The leader of this third expedition, intended for the relief 
of the first, of which Thompson was the chief, was Eichard 
Jobson, who has given us the first satisfactory account of the 
great river districts of western Africa. Jobson was the first 
white man who obtained any accurate information regarding 
the manners and customs of the interior African tribes, and 
recorded such knowledge in a form readily accessible. 

The Portuguese professed entire ignorance of the misfortunes 
which had befallen Thompson's command, although the first 
English expedition had, on one occasion at least, suffered se- 
verely at the hands of these earlier settlers. Taking their pro- 
testations for what they were worth, Jobson pushed on in the 
ascent of the Gambia, and soon reached the farthest point 
which had been attained by his predecessor. The advent of a 
trading-vessel was a great event in the eyes of the natives, who 
eagerly pressed toward the river, to exchange the products of 
the country for the commodities of the strangers. 

Jobson expected to reach Timbuctoo, by a comparatively 
short journey; for Europeans generally had no good idea of 
the dimensions of Africa. He succeeded in getting to Penda, 
where he was presented at the primitive court of the king by a 
merchant who had acted as guide ; and then set out upon his 
return. His whole progress, he bitterly complains, had been 
much hindered by the merchants who formed a part of his 
company, and who were utterly indifferent to everything ex- 
cept their own profit. His return was further delayed by the 



EARLY EXPLORATIONS OF AFRICA. 53 

condition of the river; the dry season was now far advanced, 
and it was difficult to descend such a shallow stream. 

For the next forty years, the political condition of England 
was such as to forbid much foreign enterprise on the part of her 
people. But when the civil dissensions were ended and 
Charles II. was recognized as king, new moves were made to- 
ward exploring this country, which promised so rich a reward. 
In 1665, an expedition was fitted out by private enterprise, for 
the exploration of the Gambia, with a view to finding the 
sources whence the natives derived their stores of gold. All 
appliances for extracting gold from the mixtures in which it is 
found were carried with them ; but their expectations were 
not wholly fulfilled. At one place by twenty days' labor, they 
succeeded in extracting twelve pounds; and the leader de- 
clared, subsequently, that he had found the mouth of the 
mine; but as he never made any use of the knowledge, it is 
probable that his assertion was unfounded. 

Another expedition was sent out in 1720by the African Com- 
pany, of which the Duke of Chandos was then director. Of 
this expedition, Capt. Bartholomew Stibbs was the leader. It 
was with difficulty that he could persuade his guides to ac- 
company him above the Falls of Barraconda, a point which 
they declared was the end of the world, and beyond which 
there were only the rudest and fiercest savages. He at length 
succeeded in persuading them, however, and ascended the riv- 
er for some distance above the falls, though not as far as Ten- 
da, which Jobson had reached. The expedition of Stibbs is of 
importance, because of its effect upon the spirits of English 
explorers of Africa. Hitherto the Gambia had been confound- 
ed with the Niger ; it was thought that by ascending the for- 
mer, the explorers might with comparative ease penetrate far 
into the interior, even to Timbuctoo. Stibbs declared that he 
had ascended the stream far enough to be able to judge of its 
size; he had seen no evidence of any great river; it issued 
from no lake, as the Niger was said to do; it was nowhere 
called by a name similar to Niger ; the. natives declared that at 
twelve days' journey above the falls it dwindled to a rivulet, 
which fowls might wade across. Despite the arguments which 
the English Company's factor on the Gambia drew from his- 
tory, Stibbs persisted in the statement of facts of which he had 
personal experience. It came to be felt that the legends con- 
cerning the Niger were without foundation ; and a degree of 
discouragement was experienced which for some time effect- 
ually put an end to the desire for exploring this portion of 



54 EARLY EXPLORATIONS OF AFRICA. 

Africa. It does not seem to have suggested itself to them that 
the Niger might really exist, a little farther from England than 
the stream which they had assumed was the one that they 
sought. 

While the English were exploring the Gambia, under the im- 
pression that it was the Niger, the French were making a sim- 
ilar mistake as to the Senegal. Shortly after the expedition 
commanded by Jobson, the French made a settlement near the 
mouth of the Senegal, which they named after the patron 
saint of their country and their king, Saint Louis. Accounts 
of this settlement were brought home, in 1637, by Jannequin, 
a young man of rank whose fancy sent him on a trip thither. 
For some time, however, the French seem to have made no 
great effort toward exploring the interior for any considerable 
distance. 

The settlement had been made under the auspices of a com- 
pany to which Louis XIV. had granted a patent, giving ex- 
clusive right of territory and privileges of settlement, trading, 
and exploration. This was the method employed by this king 
in furthering enterprises of the kind; and when one company 
became bankrupt, through extravagance or mismanagement, 
nothing was easier than to grant a patent for another. In this 
way four successive companies were formed having for their 
object the settlement and exploration of this part of Africa. 
It was not until 1697 that they were under the management of 
a man who seems to have been thoroughly enthusiastic over 
the purpose for which the company was organized. In that 
year, the Sieur Brue was appointed director-general of the 
company's affairs. 

He at once began his preparations for penetrating into the 
interior, intending to visit the Siratik, or king of the Foulahs, 
whose territory lay four hundred miles up the river. He seems 
to have met with no difficulty in prosecuting his journey; but 
was well received, first by the envoys, and then by the king 
himself. Presents of great value in the eyes of the natives, 
but costing only about sixty or seventy pounds sterling, were 
tendered as an evidence of the friendly feeling of the white 
men, and graciously accepted. Having accomplished the im- 
mediate object of his journey, the Sieur returned to St. Louis. 

He set out again the next year, having a more extended ob- 
ject in view. His first trip had been solely for the purpose of 
cultivating friendly feelings with the natives ; in the second, 
he sought to ascend the Senegal as high as possible, and open 
up trade with the natives. He established the fort called St. 



EARLY EXPLORATIONS OF AFRICA. 55 

Joseph, which was long the principal seat of French commerce 
on the upper Senegal; but failed to accomplish much beyond 
this; being compelled to return before the river fell so as to 
cut off his retreat. He obtained from the natives much infor- 
mation respecting the interior; unfortunately, their assertions 
were not always to be reconciled ; especially was this the case 
in regard to the Niger, which seems for the first time to have 
been recognized as a stream distinct from the Gambia or the 
Senegal. According to the statement of some of the natives, 
the Niger -flowed westward from the lake ; according to others, 
it flowed eastward ; the former account of it represented it as 
separating into the two channels of the Senegal and the Gam- 
bia; but the great French geographers of the time adopted 
the other opinion. 

Brue wished to penetrate to the gold mines in the interior; 
but the tyranny of the earliest Portuguese settlers had been 
such that the natives of that section were resolved not to per- 
mit the white men to enter their country again. Brue indeed 
secured the services of an intrepid advance, who, laden with 
presents, endeavored to persuade the the natives to admit the 
party; but the project failed of accomplishment. Nor could 
Brue obtain from France the assistance which he required, if 
he made an effort to possess himself by force of the riches of 
the interior. 

Brue appears to be the last Frenchman of this period who 
made any considerable effort to explore the interior ; and his 
journey was not prompted so much by a desire for knowledge 
as by a desire for the products of the land. It is true that 
there were other directors of the company who undertook ex- 
peditions, but they were of but small extent. For many years, 
the chief interest which the french took in Africa was due to 
the prosperity of the gum trade, of which St. Louis was the 
headquarters. 



CHAPTER III. 




JAMES BRUCE. 

WING, perhaps, to the length of time by which we are 
separated from them, there is much less personal in- 
terest attaching to the earlier explorers than to most 
men who venture into an unknown country for the pur- 
pose of solving its mysteries. James Bruce may be considered 
the first African explorer to whom a real personal interest at- 
taches. This may, perhaps, be due, in his case, to the elabo- 
rate care which he has taken to acquaint the world with the re- 
sults of his journeyings. Five ponderous quartos were required 
to tell the story to his own satisfaction. Certainly in these 
volumes there is much that needs to be taken with a grain of 
allowance, for Bruce is notorious for exaggerating his own im- 
portance ; but there is less that is untrue than his contempo- 
raries imagined. As in the case of Eudoxus, they refused to be- 
lieve things which have since been confirmed by a wider expe- 
rience. Stripped of exaggerations, and reduced to a small com- 
pass, that it may come within the limits of the present chapter, 
the story will be briefly told. 

Bruce was the son of a Scottish gentleman, and was born at 
his paternal seat of Kinnaird House in the county of Stirliiig, 
in 1730. His early tendency was toward the Church; but at 
the desire of his father he became a student of law. This, how- 
ever, he gave up before he had progressed far enough to be 
entitled to admittance to the bar, and decided to go to India. 
While he was making ready to undertake this journey, he fell 
in love, and married. This, for a time, put an end to his trav- 
els, except to France, whither he took his young wife, and 
where she died in less than a year after their marriage. Bruce 
seems now to have returned to the idea of traveling, although 
not to that of going out to India. He traveled for some time 
in Spain and Portugal, as well as in France; and acquired a 

56 



James bruce. 57 

knowledge of the languages of these countries as well as of 
Arabic. 

The rumor that war was about to be declared between Great 
Britain and Spain induced Bruce to offer his services upon an ex- 
pedition of some danger. The offer was under consideration 
for some time, but w^as not accepted. It paved the way, how- 
ever, for other missions, of not much less danger, and of much 
greater importance to the world. Lord Halifax desired him 
to go to Barbary, to study the ruins of architectural beauty 
which travelers reported to exist there, and make public the 
information so obtained. In the course of the interviews be- 
tween them, the subject of exploring the Nile was broached; 
and Bruce afterward declared that at this instant of his life his 
heart suggested to him " that this great discovery should eith- 
er be achieved by me, or remain, as it had done for the last 
two thousand years, a defiance to all travelers, and an oppro- 
brium to geography." 

Shortly after the conversation which prompted this resolve, 
Bruce was appointed British consul at Algiers. Here he re- 
mained for two years, the intervals between the duties of his 
troublous office being fully occupied by studies. He learned 
here, from a venerable Greek priest, the modern Greek lan- 
guage, which was afterward of great use to him in Abyssinia. 
He also acquired much valuable knowledge of surgery. 

Finally succeeding in effecting a recall, for his life at Algiers 
had by no means been all that his fancy painted it before start- 
ing, Bruce began the work which the prime minister had sug- 
gested — visiting and taking views of the ruins of Barbary. 
With this end in view, he traveled through the greater part of 
northern Africa; and it was three years after he left his con- 
sulate before he sailed from Cyprus for Egypt, to seek the 
sources of the Nile. 

Arrived at Cairo, he was fortunately mistaken for a skilled 
astrologer by the all-powerful Coptic secretary of Ali Bey, who 
was at the head of the government. This reputation, together 
with his skill as a physician, obtained him peremptory letters of 
recommendation from the bey to various potentates through 
whose territories he must pass. Thus equipped, he set out 
from Cairo in December, 1768. 

His progress up the Nile was marked by no misfortune. On 
the contrary, the same knowledge which had served him so 
well at Cairo again came into play at his time of greatest dan- 
ger, when he was in the power of an Arab chief. The chief 
was ill, and Bruce relieved his pain; the Arab coald not suffi- 



58 JAMES BRUCE. 

ciently thank him ; but pronounced a solemn curse on any of 
his people who should molest the traveler. This chief advised 
him, when he admitted that his object was to reach Abyssinia., 
to return to Kenek, and go thence overland to Kosseir; thence 
to cross the Eed Sea to Jiddah, near Mecca, and from that port 
to sail for Abyssinia. Notwithstanding this advice, Bruce con- 
tinued his journey until he reached the first cataract, near As- 
souan; then he returned, and followed the old chief's advice, 




First Cataract of the Nile, near Assouan. 

traveling across the country under the protection of a caravan 
of the adviser's followers. 

Bruce spent considerable time in making a survey of the 
Eed Sea; and it was not until September, 1769, that he finally 
anchored in the harbor of Massowa, the ancient port of Abys- 
sinia. This country had been the goal of Portuguese travels in 
a previous century. We have already seen that rumors of a 
Christianized country in the heart of Africa led the early Por- 
tuguese explorers of Guinea to imagine that they had at last 
heard of the location of Prester John; in the sixteenth cen- 
tury, missionaries of this nation reached Abyssinia from a dif- 



JAMES BRUCE. 59 

ferent direction. According to tradition, the Abyssinians had 
been converted to Judaism by their sovereign, the Queen of 
the South who visited Solomon ; in the fourth century of our 
era they were converted to Christianity. The Portuguese mis- 
sionaries made strenuous efforts to turn them from the Greek 
Catholic to the Roman Catholic form of faith, and for a time 
seemed to be successful ; but they were finally compelled to 
abandon the attempt. For almost seventy years, there had 
been no communication whatever between this country and 
Europe. Abyssinia seemed almost to have been blotted from 
the map of the world. The immense distance, the climate in 
which it was situated, the deserts which nearly surrounded it, 
and the barbarous character of the tribes which surrounded it, 
were of themselves enough to deter most travelers ; and the 
dangers of the route had not been softened in the accounts of 
the returned unsuccessful missionaries. 

It was with considerable difficulty and after a delay of two 
months, that Bruce escaped the naybe of Massowa, who de- 
manded handsome presents in addition to those which the trav- 
eler had voluntarily bestowed upon him. But having left Mas- 
sowa, and thus escaped the importunities of the naybe, his de- 
lays and difficulties were not by any means at an end. The fa- 
vor of a relative of the naybe warned him against taking the 
easier road, since it might be dangerous ; and the rough and 
mountainous pathway which was thus recommended as safer 
was the scene of suffering. But by great address, Bruce suc- 
ceeded in winning the favor of the natives with whom he came 
in contact; and after a journey which occupied ninety-five 
days, he came in sight of Gondar, the capital of Abyssinia, 
about four hundred miles from Massowa. 

Here he had the good fortune to effect a cure of several per- 
sons who were suffering with smallpox ; among them was a 
child of Ras Michael, the real ruler of the kingdom ; for the 
power of the king was but nominal. Much to the dismay of 
Bruce, the gratitude of these persons whose friends he had 
cured took the form of securing for him official appointments 
about the person of the king; however high the honor which 
they intended to bestow, this proceeding would have put an 
end to his attempts at discovery as effectually as their most de- 
termined enmity could have done. 

The country was disturbed at the time by the revolt of Fa- 
sil ; and the royal army marched from the capital against the 
rebel. Bruce of course accompanied it, though not always 
with the main body of the troops ; and it was while on this ex- 



60 



JAMES BRUCE. 



pedition that he obtained his first sight of the Nile 
of its magnificent catar- 
acts. This was the one 
which is known as the 
sixth (in ascending the 
river) and is about sixty 
miles north of the modern 
Khartoom. 

Fasil, alarmed by the 
strength of the army which 
had pursued him, gave his 
allegiance to the king; 
and does not seem to 
have met with any pun- 
ishment for his rebellion. 
The royal army returned 
to Gondar , Bruce of course 
accompanying it. His de- 
sire to find the fountains 
of the Nile had only been 
whetted by the sight of 
the river; and he was 
more determined than ev- 
er to proceed upon his 
quest. 

Fasil's embassadors had 
heard of the fame of the 
physician from the far 
country, and besought him 
for something whichwould 
cure a cancer on the lip, 
with which Fasil's princi- 
pal general was afilicted. 
They declared that Fasil 
would be better pleased 
with a medicine which 
would restore his favor- 
ite to health, than with 
the magnificent appoint- 
ments which the king lav- 
ished upon the repentant 
rebel. Hearing this as- 
sertion, Bruce requested 
that the king would give 



, and of one 




jTAMiES BRUCii. 61 

Him the village of Geesh, and the source of the Nile; evidently 
supposing that the latter was not far from Gondar. Indeed he 
asserts distinctly that he had been within fifty miles of the head 
of the river when obliged to return, with the rest of the king's 
army, to the capital. The request was granted, and ratified by 
a solemn oath from the king ; while Fasil's embassadors under- 
took that their master should act as his guide. 

But the truce between the king and this powerful rebel was 
of short duration ; the very morning after this promise was 
made, certain provinces which had suffered severely from the 
devastations of the royal army on its late march rose against 
the king ; or rather, against his chief adviser. It was not for 
several months, therefore, that Bruce was enabled to set out 
on his journey. 

October 28, 1770, he and his party began the undertaking. 
His instruments required six men for their transportation, re- 
lieving each other at stated intervals. His difficulties, how- 
ever, were now all in his own cause ; he was no longer exposed 
to danger through the quarrels of others ; he was at last en- 
gaged in the actual work of exploration. 

Proceeding on their journey from Lake Tsana, they turned 
southward; for it must be remembered that the traveler was 
in search of the source of the Blue Nile, which is sometimes 
considered the main river. They found many peasants flying 
before Fasil's army, which had been put in motion for some 
reason with which the explorer was not acquainted. Fasil was 
at Bamba, a small village of miserable huts ; and thither Bruce 
went, knowing well that the rebel chieftain could forward him 
in his object. Perhaps it would be well to let Bruce tell the 
story of their first interview in his own words : 

"After announcing myself, I waited about a quarter of an 
hour before I was admitted. Fasil was sitting upon a cushion, 
with a lion's skin upon it, and another stretched like a carpet 
before his feet. He had a cotton cloth, something like a dir- 
ty towel, wrapped about his head; his upper cloak or garment 
was drawn tight about him over his neck and shoulders, so as 
to cover his hands. I bowed, and went forward to kiss one of 
them, but it was so entangled in the cloth that I was obliged to 
kiss the cloth instead of the hand. This was done, either as 
not exiDecting I should pay him that compliment (as I certain- 
ly should not have done, being one of the king's servants, 
if the king had been at Gondar) or else it was intended for a 
mark of disrespect, which was very much of a piece with the 
rest of his behavior afterward. 



62 JAMES BRUCE. 

'* There was no carpet or cushions in the tent, and only a lit- 
tle straw, as if accidentally, thrown thinly about it. I sat down 
upon the* ground, thinking him sick, not knowing what all this 
meant. He looked steadfastly at me, saying, half under his 
breath : 

* Endet nawi? bogo nawi?' 
Which in Amharic, is : 

* * How do you do? Are you very well?' 
I made the usual answer : 

'"Well, thank God.' 

'' He again stopped, as for me to speak. There was only one 
old man present, who was sitting on the floor mending a 
mule'sbridle. I took him at first for an attendant; but, observing 
that a servant, uncovered, held a candle to him, I thought he 
was one of his Galla ; but then I saw a blue silk thread which 
he had about his neck, which is a badge of Christianity all 
over Abyssinia, and which a Galla would not wear. What he 
was I could not make out ; he seemed, however, to be a very 
bad cobbler, and took no notice of us. 

" ' I am come,' said I, ' by your invitation and the king's 
leave, to pay my respects to you in your own government, beg- 
ging that you would favor my curiosity so far as to allow me 
to see the country of the Agows and the source of the Abay 
(or Nile), part of which I have seen in Egypt.' 

*' ' The source of the Abay!' exclaimed he, with a pretended 
surprise; ' do you know what you are saying? Why, it is God 
knows where, in the country of the Galla, wild, terrible peo- 
ple. The source of the Abay! Are you raving?' he repeats 
again; ' are you to get there, do you think, in a twelvemonth 
or more, or when?' 

** ' Sir,' said I, ' the king told me it was near Sacala, and 
still nearer Geesh; both villages of the Agows, and both in 
your government.' 

'* * And so you know Sacala and Geesh?' says he, whistling, 
and half angry. 

*' 'I can repeat the names that I hear,' said I: * all Abys- 
sinia knows the head of the Nile.' 

" * Aye,' says he, imitating my voice and manner, *but all 
Abyssinia won't carry you there, that I promise you.' 

" ' If you are resolved to the contrary,' said I, ' they will 
not. I wish you had told the king so in time, then I should 
not have attempted it; it was relying upon you alone that I 
came so far — confident, that if all the rest of Abyssinia could 
not protect me there, that your word singly could do it,' 



JAMES BRUCE. 63 

" He now put on a look of more complacency. 

'' '.Look you, Yagoube/ says he [Bruce had assumed the 
name of Yagoube, the Arabic form of his own Christian name] ; 
' it is true I can do it, and, for the king's sake, who recommend- 
ed it to me, I would do it ; but the chief priest, Abba Salama, has 
sent to me to desire me not to let you pass farther; he says it 
is against the law of the land to permit Franks like you to go 
about the country, and that he has dreamed something ill will 
befall me if you go into Maitsha.' 

" I was as much irritated as I thought it possible for me to 
be. 

" 'So, so,' said I, 'the time of priests, prophets, and 
dreamers is coming on again.' 

" 'I understand you,' saj^s^he, laughing for the first time; 
' I care as little for priests as Michael does, and for prophets 
too ; but I would have you consider the men of this country 
are not like yours ; a boy of these Galla would think nothing 
of killing a man of your country. You white people are all 
effeminate; you are like so many women; you are not fit for 
going into a province where all is war, and inhabited by men, 
warriors from their cradle.' 

" I saw he intended to provoke me ; and he had succeeded so 
effectually that I should have died, I believe, if I had not, as 
imprudent as it was, told him my mind in reply. 

" 'Sir,' said I, ' I have passed through many of the most bar- 
barous nations in the world; all of them, excepting this clan 
of yours, have some great men among them above using a de- 
fenceless stranger ill. But the worst and lowest individual 
among the most uncivilized people never treated me as you 
have done to-day under your own roof, where I have come so 
far for protection.' 

" ' How?' he asked. 

" 'You have, in the first place, said I, publicly called me 
Frank, the most odious name in this country, and sufficient to 
occasion me to be stoned to death, without farther ceremony, 
by any set of men, wherever I may present myself. By a Frank 
you mean one of the Eomish religion, to which my nation is 
as adverse as yours; and again, without having ever seen any 
of my countrymen but myself, you have discovered, from that 
specimen, that we are all cowards and effeminate people, like 
or inferior to your boys and women. Look you, sir; you 
never heard that I gave myself out as more than an ordinary 
man in my own country, far less to be a pattern of what is ex- 
cellent in it. I am no soldier, though I know enough of war 



JAMES BRUCE. 65 

to see yours are poor proficients in that trade. But there are 
soldiers, friends and countrymen of mine, who would not 
think it an action to vaunt of that, with ^ve hundred men, 
they had trampled all your naked savages into dust.' 

" On this, Fasil made a feigned laugh, and seemed rather to 
take my freedom amiss. It was, doubtless, a passionate and 
rash speech. 

" * As to myself,' continued I, 'unskilled in war as I am, 
could it be now without any farther consequence, let me be 
but armed in my own country-fashion, on horseback as I was 
yesterday, I should, without thinking myself overmatched, 
fight the two best horsemen you shall choose from this your army 
of famous men, who are warriors from their cradle; and if, 
when the king arrives, you are not returned to your duty, and 
we meet again as we did at Limjour, I will pledge myself, with 
his permission, to put you in mind of this promise, andleave the 
choice of men to your option.' 

*' This did not make things better. He repeated the word 
duty after me, and would have replied, but my nose burst out 
in a stream of blood and that instant a servant took hold of 
me by the shoulder to hurry me out of the tent. Fasil 
seemed to be a good deal concerned, for the blood streamed 
out upon my clothes. I returned, then, to my tent, and the 
blood was soon stanched by washing my face with cold water. 
I sat down to recollect myself, and the more I calmed, the 
more I was dissatisfied at being put off my guard ; but it is im- 
possible to conceive the provocation without having proved it. 
I have felt but too often how much the love of our native soil 
increases by our absence from it; and how jealous we are of 
comparisons made to the disadvantage of our countrymen by 
people who, all proper allowances being made, are general- 
ly not their equals, when they would boast themselves their 
superiors. I will confess farther, in gratification to my critics, 
that I was from my infancy of a sanguine, passionate disposition ; 
very sensible of injuries which I had neither provoked nor de- 
served; but much reflection from very early life, continued 
habits of suffering in long and dangerous travels, where noth- 
ing but patience would do, had, I flattered myself abundantly, 
subdued my natural proneness to feel offences which common 
sense might teach me I could only revenge upon myself. 

'* However, upon farther consulting my own breast, I found 
there was another cause that had co-operated strongly with the 
former in making me lose my temper at that time, ^yhich, upon 
much greater provocation, I had never done before. I found 



66 JAMES BRUCE. 

now, as I thought, that it was decreed decisively that my hopes 
of arriving at the source of the Nile were forever ended; all my 
trouble, all my expenses, all my time, and all my sufferings for 
so many years were thrown away, from no greater obstacle 
than the Avhimsies of one barbarian, whose good inclinations I 
thought I had long before sufficiently secured ; and, what was 
worse, I was now got within less than forty miles of the place 
I wished so much to see ; and my hopes were shipwrecked up- 
on the last, as well as upon the most unexpected, difficulty, I 
had to encounter. ' ' 

But Bruce 's fears were without foundation. That night, 
Fasil sent him two lean sheep, and a guard of men to protect 
him during the night. The next morning, twelve horses, sad- 
dled and bridled, were brought to him by Fasil's servant, who 
asked him which he would ride. Bruce left the man to select 
a quiet horse for him, and forthwith mounted the one which 
was offered to him. The animal proved to be wholly untamed ; 
but Bruce managed to keep his seat, and finally sent him back 
to Fasil as an entirely safe horse to ride. He then mounted 
his own horse, and showed the admiring natives something of 
his marksmanship. 

Fasil was witness, not only of his shooting, but of his riding; 
although he protested that he had not sent the wild horse him- 
self ; he had none, he said, fit for the saddle, except the one 
which he himself rode ; but any of his horses, driven before 
the part}^, would ensure their safety from the attacks of sur- 
rounding savages. He again protested that he was inno- 
cent of any desire to injure the traveler, and assured him that 
the groom who had taken him such a horse was in irons, and 
would be put to death within a few hours. 

" 'Sir,' replied Bruce, 'as this man has attempted my life, it 
is I that should name the punishment.' 

" 'It is very true,' replied Fasil; 'take him, Yagoube, and 
cut him in a thousand pieces, if you please, and give his body 
to the kites.' 

"'Are you really sincere in what you say?' said Bruce: 
' and will you have no after excuses?' " 

He swore solemnly that he would not. 

" 'Then,' returned the traveler, ' I am a Christian; the way 
my religion teaches me to punish my enemies is by doing good 
for evil ; and therefore I keep you to the oath Avhich you have 
sworn, and desire you to set the man at liberty, and put him in 
the place he held before; for he has not been undutiful to 
you.'." 



JAMES BRUCE. 67 

One of the attendants, turning to Fasil, said, while a murmur 
of approbation ran through the assemblage : 

" Did I not tell you what my brother said about this man? 
He was just the same all through Tigre." 

Fasil replied in a low tone, which Bruce's ears barely caught : 

'* A man that behaves as he does may go through any coun- 
try." 

In an interview which Bruce afterward had with Fasil, the 
latter promised a guide who was thoroughly acquainted with 
the country through which they were to pass, and who had the 
additional recommendation of being well known as an attend- 
ant of Fasil's, so that the stranger's safety would be by this 
means secured. He then invested Bruce with the government 
of Geesh, in accordance with the king's grant. He also swore 
seven Galla chiefs to defend Bruce to the utmost if he should 
be attacked, and to see that he wanted for nothing which their 
stores could supply. 

October 31, the party set out. Bruce notes that the Galla 
chiefs paid but little attention to him, although they lavished 
every possible mark of respect upon the saddled horse which 
Fasil had given him, to be led in advance of the party. On the 
third day after they left the camp of Fasil, they came in sight 
of the mountain of Geesh. The long-sought fountains of the 
Nile were just beyond it. 

But the winding stream must be followed for no little distance 
before they could reach this elevation. Nor would the inhabi- 
tants permit them, when it was necessary to cross the river, to 
ride across on their horses or mules. They insisted that Bruce 
and his party should take off their shoes, and even signified 
that they would stone those who attempted to wash the dirt 
from their clothes. Patiently forbearing any protest against 
these superstitious notions, older than the Christianity which 
they nominally professed, Bruce endeavored to comply with 
their demands, and restrained his servants, who would have 
returned rudeness for rudeness. 

While the sight of Fasil's horse prevented any of these half- 
savage natives from attacking the party, it was of disadvan- 
tage to them in another way. Seeing the sign of the chief's 
protection, the inhabitants concluded that the party had been 
sent out for the purpose of collecting taxes. The human mind 
appears to have a natural prejudice against the collector of 
taxes; and in oriental countries, this feeling is not lessened by 
the enormity of the imposts exacted. The natives according- 
ly fled from their homes and hid themselves and their porta- 



68 JAMES BRUCE. 

ble property; so that Bruce was at sonie trouble to obtain the 
necessary provisions. 

Following the windings of the constantly lessening stream, 
they journeyed until a little after noon of the fourth day. They 
had then arrived at the summit of a mountain, from which 
they had a distinct view of all the remaining territory of Sa- 
cala, the mountain of Geesh, and immediately beneath them, 
the Nile itself, strangely diminished in size, and now only a 
brook that had scarcely water enough to turn a mill. The 
mighty river at this point and at this season was not four yards 
wide, and barely four inches deep. It ran swiftly over a bot- 
tom of small stones, with hard black rock appearing among 
them. A little below the point at which Bruce saw it at this 
time, it is full of inconsiderable falls; but at this point, it was 
easy enough to pass. The guide pointed out to the traveler 
the position of the two hillocks of green sod where the foun- 
tains of the Nile were to be found; and Bruce ran down the 
hill toward the point. 

He had been cautioned to remove his shoes when approach- 
ing the the spot, since the people about this place were even 
more bigoted in their reverence for the river than those whom 
the party had before encountered; it was then in the guise of 
a reverent worshiper that he approached the spot toward 
which, for many years, his thoughts had been directed. But 
let him tell his own story of the feelings which in this hour of 
success possessed him : 

" I came to the altar of green turf, which was in the form 
of an altar, apparently the work of art, and I stood in rapture 
over the principal fountain, which rises in the middle of it. 

*' It is easier to guess than to describe the situation of my 
mind at that moment — standing in that spot which had baffled 
the genius, industry, and inquiry of both ancients and moderns 
for the course of near three thousand years ! Kings had at- 
tempted this discovery at the head of armies, and each expedi- 
tion was distinguished from the last only by the difference of 
the numbers that had perished, and agreed alone in the disap- 
pointment which had uniformly and without exception follow- 
ed them all. Fame, riches, and honor had been held out for a 
series of ages to every individual of these myriads these 
princes commanded, without having produced one man capa- 
ble of gratifying the curiosity of his sovereign, or wiping off 
this stain upon the enterprise and abilities of mankind, or add- 
ing this desideratum for the encouragement of geography. 
Though a mere private Briton, I triumphed here, in my own 



JAMES BRUCE. 69 

mind, over kings and their armies ; and every comparison was 
leading nearer and nearer to presumption, when the place 
itself where I stood, the object of my vainglory, suggested 
what depressed my short-lived triumph. I was but a few min- 
utes arrived at the sources of the Nile, through numberless 
dangers and sufferings, the least of which would have over- 
whelmed me but for the continual goodness and protection of 
Providence. I was then, however, but half through my jour- 
ney, and all those dangers which I had already passed awaited 
me again on my return; I found a despondency gaining ground 
fast upon me, and blasting the crown of laurels I had too 
rashly woven for myself." 

He soon recovered from this feeling of despondency, in out- 
ward appearance at least ; and drank to the health of the king 
(George III.) in the waters of the newly discovered fountain. 
He remained at Geesh four days, making various surveys and 
astronomical observations. The result of about forty obser- 
vations made at this time places the head-waters of the Blue 
Nile in north latitude lOo 59' 25," and 36o 55' 30" east longi- 
tude; the barometer indicating an elevation of something 
more than two miles above the level of the sea. 

Some slight description of the scene which he had come 
through such difficulties and dangers to behold may not be out 
of place here. The hillock of green sod, which he compares 
in form to an altar, even if it had not been purposely fashion- 
ed in that shape, is in the midst of a small marsh, about 
twelve feet in diameter, surrounded by a wall of sod, at the 
foot of which is a shallow trench which collects the water. In 
the center of this hillock there is a hole, filled with water, 
which appears perfectly still ; there is no appearance whatever of 
ebullition upon its surface, such as is usual in springs ; this hole 
^the traveler found by measurement to be about three feet in 
diameter and six feet deep. At the distance of ten feet from, 
this hillock, there is a second fountain, eleven inches in diam- 
eter and eight feet deep ; and at twenty feet there is a third 
fountain, two feet in diameter and six feet deep. Both these 
smaller fountains are surrounded by walls of sod and trenches 
similar to the embankment about the first which the traveler 
saw. The water from all these unites in one stream which, the 
discoverer calculated, would fill a two-inch pipe. 

In regard to the importance of Bruce's discovery, there have 
been many things said by those who would wish to lessen his 
fame. It is urged, first, that he was not*the first European 
who had discovered the source of the Nile. It is true that the 



7(y JAMES BRUCE. 

Portuguese Jesuits who, shortly after the foundation of their 
order, went as missionaries to the Greek Catholics of Abyssin- 
ia, explored the surrounding country with more or less thor- 
oughness; one of their number, Paez, had actually visited and 
described in writing this spot, one hundred and fifty years be- 
fore it was seen by Bruce. But this description, which had 
been written originally in Portuguese, had been published only 
in a Latin translation; more than this, it contained such a 
number of incredible statements that the friends of Paez were 
not anxious that it should be read, lest it cast discredit upon 
his reputation for veracity. Thus the knowledge was doubly 
locked up ; the intelligence may be said never to have reached 
the ear of the public ; and certainly the question where the 
Nile has its source was regarded as one which had never been 
satisfactorily answered. 

It is also said that the source of the Blue Nile is not'the source 
of the Nile ; that the White Nile is the larger river, the main 
stream; and that therefore the head-waters of this river 
should be regarded as the true fountains of the Nile. Bruce 
himself admits that this is true ; more than this, that were it 
not for the constantly flowing stream of the White, fed by the 
tropic rains, the waters of the Blue Nile would be lost in the 
desert before they reached Egypt. But, he urges, and others 
have supported this opinion, the usage of the surrounding 
tribes shows that the Blue is regarded as the Nile, equally at 
least with the White. But while it cannotbe denied that Bruce 
solved only the easier of the two problems, and left the more 
difficult for a later generation, it must be admitted that the 
fact of his being the pioneer in this portion of the continent 
(if we except the Portuguese, whose history had caused the 
natives to look with enmity upon all white men) gives him 
equal honor with those who have solved the more intricate, 
-and difficult question of the source of the White Nile. A re- 
cent authority, surveying the field of African discovery from 
the vantage-ground of modern knowledge of the Dark Conti- 
nent, declares that Bruce's journey forms an epoch in the an- 
nals of discovery. 

The discoverer's return through Abyssinia was considerably 
delayed by the disturbed state of the country, where, as during 
the past year, intestinal wars were raging. He was further 
alarmed by the fear that the old rule would be enforced, which 
forbade a stranger to leave the country. He could only secure 
the king's permissio*n to depart by promising to return, as soon 
as his shattered health would permit, with as many of his f am- 



JAMES BRUCE. " 71 

ily as possible, and a full supply of horses and arms. As a 
recognition of the soldierly service which he had rendered, the 
king presented him with a gold chain of one hundred and 
eighty links, weighing about three pounds and a quarter, a 
weight equivalent to that of $500 and over in gold. 

Notwithstanding this apparent willingness to have him leave 
the country, the king threw many trifling difficulties in the 
way of his doing so; and these circumstances, combined with 
that troubled state of the country to which reference has 
above been made, prevented his departure for more than a 
year after the actual discovery of the sources of the Nile. 
Late in December, 1771, he left Gondar, his route lying through 
Sennaar. The journey thence to Assouan occupied more than 
eleven months ; and was performed only by incredible exer- 
tions through a country heated by the nearly direct rays of the 
sun, and covered with heat-reflecting sand. It was more than a 
year after leaving Gondar that he reached Cairo, whence his 
route home was mere child's play to the journey which had 
preceded. 

Bruce horrified his countrymen by his description of the bar- 
barous customs of the Abyssinians, and got roundly scoffed at, 
for instance, for his stories of cutting off steaks from a live 
cow. Nevertheless, at the present day, raw meat feasts are 
none the less practiced than then. When all the guests are as- 
sembled, the animals are slaughtered, and within three minutes 
the choicest morsels of raw meat, of the fattest, are brought 
in palpitating for the chief and those of high rank. Long knives 
are handed round to all, and each cuts himself a large piece 
from the part offered him. 

Bruce also described the Abyssinians as never making a new 
law, as with their usual superstition and obstinacy they ascribe 
to their ancient statutes a Divine or sacred authority. Thus, 
when a case is before the judges, they say : * ' Let us hear what 
the Fitha N'egust (their law-book) says." It is opened sol- 
emnly, and the first passage which can be found bearing at all 
on the subject, is read and acted upon, all other considerations 
being disregarded. On the occasion of a lawsuit, both parties, 
accuser and accused, must find security or be fastened togeth- 
er during the continuance of the suit; and afterwards the loser 
must again give security on all the points for which he may be 
condemned. Also he must hand over a certain amount, ac- 
cording to the importance of the case, to the judges, who get 
no other pay beyond the numerous presents which they receive 
on all hands. 



JAMES BRUCE. 73 

The returned traveler was received with much distinction, 
not only in his own country and among his own people, but in 
France and Italy as well. But there soon arose dissatisfaction 
with the reception which they accorded him. His assertions 
regarding the manners and customs of the people and the na- 
ture of the countries through which he had passed, were re- 
ceived with incredulity, which wounded and angered his proud 
and sensitive spirit. He retired to his paternal seat, and to 
some extent secluded himself from the scientific world. About 
twelve years after his return, he published the account of his 
travels in five large quarto volumes, illustrated by plates and 
maps. But the printed statements commanded but little more 
respect than those which he had uttered by word of mouth ; it 
was seriously doubted that he had ever been in Abyssinia at 
all; and it was not until his observations and descriptions 
were confirmed by other travelers in the same region that his 
reputation for truthfulness emerged from this undeserved 
cloud. Bruce felt the unbelief of the world very keenly; but 
with the fortitude of a Stoic, nerved himself to bear it, trust- 
ing only that his daughter, a little child at the time of the pub- 
lication of his great work, would live to see her father vindi- 
cated. This hope, however, was never fulfilled; the daugh- 
ter lay upon her death-bed when the earliest movement to- 
wards confirming the father's statements was made; and al- 
though it was told to her, the demonstration of his reliability 
was then so incomplete that it could not satisfy one so devot- 
edly attached to his memory as she had always been. 

The explorer who had passed through so many dangers met 
with death at a social gathering in his own house. Hurrying 
forward to assist an old lady to her carriage, his foot failed 
him, he fell down stairs, and never spoke again. He died at 
the age of sixty-four. 



CHAPTER lY. 



THE AFBICAJf SOCIETY. 

NCITED, perhaps, by the knowledge of what had been ac- 
complished by Bruce, although there were at the time 
grave doubts that that traveler had reached the goal which 

he claimed to have attained, a number of Englishmen in- 
terested in the advancement of geographical science, in 1788, 
formed " The African Society." It will be noticed that this 
was before Bruce's volumes were published, when his achieve- 
ments were still a matter of hearsay ; it was some years before 
the French expedition to Egypt stimulated interest in that 
country; and no other country had yet taken decided interest 
in the exploration of the second largest continent. 

We have already noted that the Portuguese had rounded the 
Cape of Good Hope, and found a maritime path to India. 
They had also established various colonies on the coast of Af- 
rica, one of which was on the slopes of Table Kock, and was 
surrounded by a few fields a little inland, which afforded the 
grain needed for food, and also sustenance for their cattle. 
Of this colony and of others they had been dispossessed at a 
very early day by the Dutch, who had also supplanted them, 
to a considerable extent, in the East Indies. The Dutch found 
this colony, which now bears the name of Cape Town, sur- 
rounded by savages whose name is still a synonym for rude ig- 
norance and incapability of civilization. The Hottentots were 
not only low in the scale of life, but they were lacking in that 
feeling of unity which has preserved so many a savage race 
against the encroachments of men superior in arts and arms. 
They were easily managed by the new-comers, because there 
was little tribal unity among them. The Portuguese and 
Dutch had little trouble in maintaining themselves there ; and 
had the former nation kept possession of the field, and retain- 
ed its ancient vigor, the surrounding country might have been 

74 



THE AFRtCAK SOCIETY. 75 

thoroughly explored in a comparatively short time. As it was, 
although Cape Town was founded in 1652, and a tolerably cor- 
rect map of the coast as far north as the mouth of the Great 
Fish Eiver, made shortly afterward, the easy-going, phlegmatic 
successors of the Lusitanians allowed matters to remain in ex- 
actly the same condition for a full century. Their dominion 
was bounded by the limits of the Hottentot tribes ; with the 
fiercer Kaffirs they had nothing to do. 

Ten years before the formation of the African Society, Gap- 
tain Henry Hope, under the authority of the Dutch govern- 
ment, had penetrated some distance into the interior with a 
caravan of about ninety persons. His mission was for the pur- 
pose of studying the animal and vegetable forms to be found 
there, the singularity of which, as seen from a few specimens 
sent from Cape Town, had excited the wonder of natural- 
ists. On his return, he published at Amsterdam a work con- 
taining plates of the giraffe, the zebra, the hippopotamus, the 
gnu, and other animals then almost wholly unknown to Eu- 
rope. 

Shortly after the ventures of Hope, similar missions were 
undertaken by Sparrmann, a Swede, and Le Vaillant, a French- 
man. Their journeys, however, were more in the interests of 
botany and zoology than of geography; so that an extended 
notice of their travels would be out of place here. Sparrmann 
deserves our notice chiefly for the reason that he made the 
most accurate map which had been made up to that time of 
the coast from the Gape of Good Hope to the mouth of the 
Great Fish Eiver — a section which had long been known to 
the Dutch settlers, but the maps of which contained some er- 
rors, then first corrected. 

This preliminary notice is necessary, in order that we may 
see what was the condition of African exploration at the time 
of which we write. The African Society was formed of per- 
sons possessed of much vigor and a keen desire to prosecute 
their object; but its finances were in such a condition that the 
most it could do was to pay the expenses of those who might 
volunteer as explorers. Under such circumstances, it was 
feared that few or none would be found to undertake the task 
which combines so much danger and hardship ; but the fears 
were without foundation in fact. 

Scarcely had the needs of the Society become known, when 
Ledyard volunteered for the undertaking. He had sailed 
around the world with Captain Cook, had spent several years 
among the savage tribes of America, and had made a journey. 



76 THE ATRICAN SOCIETY. 

with the most scanty means, from Stockholm around the Gulf 
of Bothnia, and thence to the remotest portion of Asiatic Rus- 
sia. On his return from this last expedition, he presented 
himself before one of the managers of the Society,who at once 
declared he was the very man they wanted. 

" When can you start?" was the first question which the as- 
sembled managers put to him. 

"To-morrow," was the concise and wholly satisfactory re- 
ply. 

They were not indeed ready for him to start so soon; but 
the answer showed the man's readiness. Preparations were 
at once begun, and not many weeks had elapsed before he 
sailed for Alexandria. Here he spent some time, prepar- 
ing for his journey into the interior; for it had been arranged 
that he was to traverse the whole length of the continent. 
While the expectations of the members of the African Society 
were raised to the highest pitch, and they congratulated each 
other upon having secured the services of a man so admirably 
adapted to their work, news arrived that Ledyard was dead. 
From the very threshold of the intended exploration, he had 
passed to that country which is in truth the Undiscovered. 

But they were not discouraged by this first misfortune. Even 
before Ledyard had set out, the Society had been engaged in 
making arrangements for Lucas, an ex-vice-consul to Morocco, 
who was very well acquainted with the languages and customs 
of the northern part of Africa, to accompany the caravan which 
was understood to take the most direct route into the interior. 
But Lucas was not able to penetrate farther than Mesurata; 
and the most that he could do was to draw up a view of cen- 
tral Africa from the statements of Lnhammed, an Arab who 
had intended to accompany him on his journey; these state- 
ments being supplemented and confirmed by those of Ben Ali, 
a Moorish trader who was then in London. While this view 
was indeed imperfect, it was a great improvement upon any- 
thing of the kind which had before been attempted. 

The third agent of the Society was Major Houghton, who, 
like Lucas, had been for some years consul to Morocco. He 
undertook to reach Timbuctoo by following the course of the 
Gambia as nearly as was practicable or advisable on land. He 
was kindly received by many of the native chiefs, and once 
communicated with his countrymen by their means. Through 
this channel, also, came other news of him: some Moors 
had persuaded him to accompany them to Tisheet, a place in 
the Great Desert where salt is obtained. This was very much 



THie AFRICAN SOCIETY. 77 

out of the direct path to Timbuctoo, although the facts were 
doubtless misrepresented to Houghton. When he saw that he 
was leaving the road which he intended to keep, he remon- 
strated, but they would not permit him to return. Their sole 
purpose had beeen to rob him ; and having stripped him of 
every article in his possession, they allowed him to leave their 
party when they had gone far enough in the desert to prevent 
his being succored by whites or friendly natives. He wander- 
ed about for some time in the desert without food or shelter, 
till, at length, he died of exhaustion. 

The Society at once determined to send a fourth explorer 
out, if any one could be found to undertake the task. Mungo 
Park, a native of Scotland, a young man of about twenty-four, 
volunteered. He had been educated as a physician ; and after 
his appointment spent two years in preparing himself special- 
ly f orthe work. He sailed in May, 1795 ; and reached the mouth 
of the Gambia in the next month. He intended to follow 
much the same route as Major Houghton had marked out for 
himseK— ascend the Gambia as far as practicable, then strike 
across the country until he should reach the Niger. He was 
attended only by a few negro servants when, early in December, 
he set forth on his quest for the Dark Waters, as the natives 
still call this long-sought river. The first native king whom 
he met admired his coat so much, that it was impossible 
to avoid offering it as a present ; since the failure to do so would 
probably have been the forerunner of a robbery ; the second, un- 
der pretense that he had paid no duties on entering the territory, 
stripped him of all goods which he did not contrive to hide be- 
fore the arrival of the customs officials; the third, under the 
excuse of acting as his guide and guard through a wild coun- 
try, compelled him to give, as nominal presents, half of the 
little that remained to him. Truly had it been said, by a yet 
earlier traveler, that the beggars of Europe may learn much, 
in point of unblushing voracity, from the higher classes of 
savage Africa. 

For a time, the traveler did not meet with any more beggars; 
perhaps because he had but little left which could tempt them. 
He received information from a chief who appeared to be 
friendly, that it would be impossible for him to take the direct 
route to Timbuctoo, as the country was then the scene of war. 
His only alternative was to go by way of the Moorish kingdom 
of Ludamar, a perilous route, which had already proved fatal 
to one explorer, his predecessor. Major Houghton. 

He feared much from the bigotry and barbarity of the Moors ; 



n 



THE AI^RIGAK SOCIETY. 



but after some delaj-, succeeded in obtaining a safe conduct to 
Goombo, a place on the frontier of Bambarra. After this he 
progressed slowly, finding the negroes kind and hospitable, the 
Moors insulting and thievish. Finally, having arrived at Sami, 
early in March, he was commanded to await the coming of a 
Moorish prince's favorite wife, w^ho was anxious to see what 
a Christian looked like. 




Dr. Mungo Park. 

Transported to the capital, Benown, he was compelled to 
submit to many indignities ; for the Moors could not be persua- 
ded that a European was neither a locksmith nor a barber by 
nature. He suffered, also, from lack of food and water; for 
the dry season was on, and his jailers feared the supply of 
drink would run short if they indulged their prisoner too freely. 

The favorite was not at BenoAvn, and was apparently in no 



THE AFRICAN SOCIETY. , 79 

hurry to see a Christian, who could just as well be kept until 
she chose to come and look at him. While awaiting her arri- 
val, his situation every day became more dangerous, as the ha- 
tred of the Moors by whom he was surrounded increased. It 
was even resolved that he should be put to death. Even under 
such circumstances, it was worse than useless for Park to en- 
deavor to escape ; since his only path lay through the desert, 
which would not be passable until the beginning of the wet 
season if he could not stop at the oases where the Moors had 
settlements. 

The favorite at length inspected the curiosity ; and finding 
him less dreadful than she had expected, graciously took him 
under her powerful protection. His safety would now have 
been in a measure assured, since he accompanied the army un- 
der the command of her husband ; but this army was attacked 
and put to flight by the enemy; the alternatives to those who 
were captured were, as in all African wars, death or slavery; 
and Park fled into the desert. 

When he considered himself safe from pursuit, he climbed 
an immense tree to see what his future course should be. 
Around him was an illimitable w^aste ; he had escaped the fury 
of savage man, it seemed, only to fall a victim to no less sav- 
age nature. Parched with thirst, he eagerly hailed a flash of 
lightning as a portent of rain ; but it proved to be the forerunner 
of a sand storm, in which he nearly perished. At last he saw 
a brighter flash, and this was indeed the indication of a re- 
freshing shower. Keceiving the moisture upon his clothing, 
he wrung from them suflicient to quench his burning thirst for 
a time. 

Thus refreshed, he journeyed on, mounted on the back of 
the horse whose fleetness had enabled him to escape from the 
Moors. After several repulses from, the villages where he 
tried to obtain food, he reached a point where he considered 
himself safe from the Moors ; and determined to rest there for 
two or three days. 

Pushing onward, his horse soon became so completely worn 
out that he was obliged to lead, instead of riding it; and his 
own clothes were in such a miserable plight, his shoes being 
entirely gone, that he "was the subject of jibes from all whom 
he met. At length, however, he saw rising before him the 
smoke of Sego, a town which he knew was on the Joliba or 
Niger River. Spurred on to new exertions by the prospect of 
such near success, he overtook some former fellow-travelers, 
who had, a little while before, distanced him. 



OV THE AFRICAN SOCIETY. 

** See the water!" said one of them, shortly afterward, 
pointing. *' Looking forward, I saw," said he, "with infinite 
pleasure, the great object of my mission, the long sought for 
majestic Niger, glittering in the morning sun, as broad as the 
Thames at Westminster, and flowing slowly to the eastward. 
I hastened to the brink, and having drunk of the water, lifted 
up my fervent thanks in prayer to the Great Euler of all 
things, for having thus far crowned my endeavors with suc- 
cess." 

Having been robbed of all his possessions by the Moors, 
Park had no presents with which to conciliate the court of Se- 
go, and hence met with a very cool reception. He was kindly 
treated, however, by an old woman from whom he asked a 
night's shelter; and the king finally gave him a bag of cow- 
ries, of value sufiicient to maintain him and his horse for fifty 
days, and sent him on his way. 

The traveler continued to descend the Niger, halting at San- 
sanding. Here the natives insisted that he should perform his 
evening devotions publicly, and partake of a meal of eggs. 
The first of these propositions he declined, but accepted the 
second. They brought him a number of raw eggs, which they 
imagined would best please him ; but finding that he would not 
eat them in that condition, his host killed a sheep and prepared 
him a plentiful supper. On so slight a thread does the explor- 
er's chance of a satisfying meal sometimes hang. 

Park had proceeded but a short distance from Sansanding, 
when his faithful horse gave out ; and he was obliged to pro- 
ceed by some other means. Covered with blisters, and suffer- 
ing severely from the stings of insects, he resolved to hire a 
boat and descend the river to Silla. Here he was received 
very coldly; and learned that at Jenne, the next large town, 
the power was really in the hands of the Moors, whose influ- 
ence would increase as he journeyed eastward. He was told, 
by many of the negroes, that the Moors of that portion of the 
country were fanatical and bigoted in the extreme ; one of 
them related that he had entered a public inn of that country, 
when the landlord had spread a mat on the floor, saying to 
him: 

** If you are a Mussulman, you are my friend, sit down on 
this mat; if not, you are my slave, and with this rope will I 
lead you to market." 

Alone, without influence or other means of conciliating 
these people, from whose milder brethren he had already suf- 
fered much, Park concluded that it would be his wisest course 



THE ATKICAN SOCIETY. 81 

to return, and make known to his countr3'men the measure of 
success which he had achieved. This was not small; for up to 
this time, the direction of the Niger had been a subject of dis- 
pute. It seems that every possible theory had been advanced by 
those who had heard that there was a great river in this part of 
Africa. The ancients believed that it flowed into the Nile ; 
the people of the middle ages, as we have seen, were under 
the impression that it flowed into the Atlantic Ocean; and 
their immediate successors, the earliest Portuguese and En- 
glish explorers, identified it with the Senegal or with the Gam- 
bia; later writers have confused it Avith the Congo. Park was 
the first European who followed its course for any considera- 
ble distance, and thus determined that its direction was east- 
ward, and not westward. 

Not all his misfortunes had beset him on his journey toward 
the Niger; some awaited him on his return. He proceeded 
without more than ordinary adventures until he reached the 
mountainous country west of Bammakou; here lie was set 
upon by two men, and robbed of the very clothes which he 
wore ; his worst shirt, a pair of trousers and his hat being all 
that was left to him. It was particularly fortunate that the 
robbers did not carry off the last-named article, as he carried 
his memoranda in the crown of it. 

The articles of which he had been robbed were recovered by 
the exertions of a chief to whom Park appealed ; but this was 
only after a delay of two weeks ; and unfortunately, his pock- 
et-compass was broken when it was returned to him. On the 
remainder of his way, he was, on the whole, hospitably treated; 
although the people who were on his route were suffering, to 
some extent, from famine. He had the good fortune to fall 
in with a caravan, the leader of which assured him it was im- 
possible to traverse the country at that season; but offered to 
support him in the meantime, and when the proper time for 
the journey arrived, to conduct him in safety to the settle- 
ments. This offer was accepted, and the bargain concluded; 
his guide, on their arrival at Pisania, on the Gambia, receiving 
double the stipulated price. They reached this point in June, 
1797, just two years after Park had arrived in Africa. The 
traveler was so hindered by various circumstances that it was 
not until Christmas day that he reached London, where he 
was received by his friends as one risen from the dead ; for 
fairly well authenticated proofs of his death had actually 
reached them many months before his return, and had never 
been contradicted. 



S2 THE AFRICAN SOCIETY. 

But the explorer was not content to rest upon his laurels. 
He was ready, at the first intimation that his services were re- 
quired, to set out again. But it had been seen, by this time, 
that the enterprise of private individuals, or even of associa- 
tions, was not sufficient for the success of such great under- 
takings ; nothing could do so well as a government expedition. 
The second expedition of Park was, therefore, undertaken 
under the auspices of the British government, and was in- 
tended to have sailed in 1801. But the war with France, 
and the consequent agitation of the public mind, delayed the 
proceedings, so that it was not until the latter part of Janu- 
ary, 1805, that the party actually set out. 

Forty-three white men accompanied Park upon this expedi- 
tion, which was provided with a native guide. The leader pro- 
vided the whole party with asses at the Cape Verde Islands ; 
the breed of these animals being excellent, and they being 
weir fitted for traversing the rugged hills that form the water- 
shed between the Niger and the rivers that empty into the At- 
lantic by a westward course. 

When they were ready to set out from the western coast, it 
was evident that the rainy season could not be far distant; 
and at this portion of the year, travel was beset with many 
dangers for Europeans. It would have been prudent to have 
remained near the coast until the rains were over ; but inac- 
tion was impossible to Park, in his enthusiastic state of mind. 
He insisted on proceeding on his way ; and accordingly set out 
from Pisania early in May. 

The party was so strong, that it was not dependent upon the 
protection of the petty kings through whose territories they 
must pass ; but they no longer had any claim upon the hpspi- 
tality of these chiefs ; and were considered as fair prey for the 
depredations of many who had received Park well, when he 
was alone and friendless. With much exertion the party 
reached Sansanding. They had traveled by water a great part 
of the way since reaching the Niger, and had therefore avoid- 
ed some of the fatigue which a journey overland would have 
occasioned. But there was a danger inseparable from the 
country at that season; the heat and moisture combined 
proved fatal to nearly all the party. Before they reached San- 
sanding, thirty-nine of the party had perished; Park writes 
that not one of these had died from any accident, nor had they 
had any contest with the natives. One of the ^ve survivors was 
deranged by the terrible experiences through which they had 
passed. 



THE AFRICAX SOCIETY. 



83 



But the indomitable spirit of the explorer would not yield, 
even when his companions fell thick around him. When his 
brother-in-law died, he wrote: " I then felt myself as if left a 
second time lonely and friendless amid the wilds of Africa." 
Nevertheless in the same dispatches in which he communicates 
the lessening of his party, he expresses his determination to 
press onward at all costs; and speaks of the journey down the 
Niger as a journey homeward. He adds: "Though all the 
Europeans who are with me should die, and though I myself 
were half -dead, I would still persevere." 




Canoe Traveling on African Rivers. 

The party purchased three slaves, so that, with the guide, 
their number was nine. It would appear that they passed 
rapidly down the river, which was now, in consequence of the 
heavy rains, in a very favorable state for their enterprise. But 
the king of Yaour, or Yauri, a city more than half way be- 
tween Timbuctoo and the sea, became much offended because 
the white men passed his residence without offering suitable 
presents. He sent a party to pursue them. This party went 
by land and took possession of a pass where rocks hemmed in 
the river, so that there was but a narrow channel. When Park 
arrived at this place, he thought to force his way past the ob- 
6 



84 THE AFRICAN SOCIETY. * 

struction; but they assailed him with darts, stones, pikes, and 
arrows. He defended himself a long time ; two of the slaves 
were killed ; the crew threw everything they had into the riv- 
er, and fired constantly at the savage enemy. At last, over- 
come by numbers and fatigue, unable to keep the canoe against 
the strength of the current, Park seized one of his companions, 
and jumped overboard. What words were uttered, if any, we 
know not ; but one after another of the three survivors fol- 
lowed the example set by these two, and all were drowned. 
The only soul remaining, a slave, stood up in the boat and 
cried for mercy. They took him and the boat to the king; and 
savage revenge was gratified. 

The story is told by the guide, who was found and induced 
to seek for information of those who had seen the party after 
his own contract had been fulfilled, and he had left them to 
return to the settlements. As thus told, it was confirmed by 
what later travelers heard ; for the journeys of Mungo Park 
excited almost as much interest in Africa as in his own coun- 
try, and long remained a favorite topic with those through 
whose country he traveled. The very spot where he perished 
has been identified. 

The narrative of the second expedition of Mungo Park has 
been rather out of the line of our direct narrative ; since we 
are now concerned with those explorers sent out by the African 
Society. But the first expedition of Park had been made un- 
der the auspices of this association ; and while the second was 
under the patronage of the government, certainly it would never 
have been so assisted if the first had not been prompted by 
private enterprise. 

The African Society made several other attempts to explore 
the interior of Africa; but was uniformly unfortunate. That 
venture which came nearest to being successful was made by 
Frederic Hornemann in 1797-1803. This young man, who was 
a student of Gottingen University, offered his services to the 
Society and had them accepted as soon as his character was 
known to them. He proceeded to Egypt, where he was detain- 
ed some time by the hostility to Europeans which had been ex- 
cited by Bonaparte's landing in that country. When the great 
French general reached Cairo, he was liberated; and he join- 
ed a caravan which was setting out for Mourzouk, the capital 
of Fezzan. 

It was Hornemann 's intention to proceed across the desert 
by some one of the numerous caravan routes, and explore the 
country surrounding the Niger from that direction. After 



THE AFRICAN SOCIETr. 85 

many delays, he left Mourzouk for the south; various letters 
reached England, but after a little while, of course, they 
ceased entirely; he was in the new country, whence communi- 
cations could not be expected. Time went on; and six years 
after his departure from Europe, a Fezzan merchant informed 
the British consul at Tripoli that Hornemann was alive and 
well at Kashna, where he was held in high veneration as a 
Mussulman Marabout ; for he had chosen to assume the Mo- 
hammedan religion, in its outward observances at least, in or- 
der to escape the the persecutions to which every Christian 
was subject in Mohammedan countries. This was the last that 
was heard of him; until a later traveler learned that he had 
succumbed to the diseases of the climate at some point on the 
Niger, probably at some time in the year 1803. Hornemann 
first transmitted to Europe accurate information respecting 
Fezzan, and also the eastern Soudan. He corrected an error 
which had long had currency; namely, that the term Houssa 
meant a single empire or city ; he discovered that it included 
a number of independent states. 

The interest which the British government felt in the ex- 
ploration of Africa was not allowed to languish because the 
first expedition sent out had resulted fatally to all concerned. 
In 1816, two parties were sent out, the one to explore the Niger 
from the westward, as Park had already done, the other to as- 
cend the great river which empties into the Atlantic Ocean 
about six degrees south of the equator. We know this as the 
Congo; but although it was called by that name in 1816, it was 
a well understood thing that this was merely a sectional name ; 
that the same stream which the natives inhabiting the country 
around its mouth called the Congo, the people living near its 
headwaters knew as the Joliba or Niger. In short, the British 
government sent out these two expeditions, that one might de- 
scend the Niger, and the other ascend the Congo, and meet 
each other. 

Unfortunately for the progress of geographical knowledge, 
the reason why this plan must fail was obscured by the fact 
that their efforts failed long before either expedition had 
reached a point at which it might reasonably hope to meet the 
other. That to the Congo ascended the river as far as the 
great cataract without any especial adventure ; but shortly af- 
ter passing the falls, disease affected many of them; and the 
leaders of the expedition having all died, the subordinates 
sailed for home. 

A similar fate overtook the other pai-ty, which consisted of 



S6 THE AFRICAN SOCIETY. 

one hundred men. Their chosen route lay through the Foulah 
territory, or slightly to the south of that selected by Park. Six 
months after leaving the coast, the remnants of the party 
made their way back. One member of it afterward attempt- 
ed to cross to the Niger by Park's old route along the Gambia, 
but did not penetrate as far into the interior as the previous 
explorer had done. 

In 1821, Major Laing, who had been sent on a mission 
through the countries of the Timannee, Kooranko and Solima 
tribes, with a view to making arrangements for trading, learn- 
ed from the natives that the sources of the Niger were much 
nearer the south than had been previously supposed. From 
the reports of the natives, he was inclined to fix the point a 
very little above the ninth degree of north latitude — an opin- 
ion which modern geographers have amended only by fix- 
ing the meaning of " very little" as twenty-five minutes of lat- 
itude. 

The African Society may be considered to have accomplish- 
ed its object, not indeed by securing for the world a more ac- 
curate knowledge of the geography of the great southern con- 
tinent, but in having awakened the interest of the public, and 
particularly of the representative of public opinion, the king's 
government. Accordingly, we find it now attracting much less 
notice than at first ; and finally, some forty years after its or- 
ganization, it was merged in the Royal Geographical Society. 



CHAPTER V. 



CLAPPERTOJT AJVD DEjYHAM. 

HE British governnient was thoroughly in earnest in 
the desire to obtain more accurate information regard- 
ing the interior of Africa. There was one circumstance 
which was regarded as very favorable : at the court of 
Tripoli this country was regarded with much respect and some 
friendship. This feeling was largely due to the prudence and 
ability of the consul, Mr. Warrington, whose advice was con- 
stantly sought by the pasha on almost all matters of impor- 
tance. Great Britain then might ask protection for whom she 
would, and it would be given ; and scarcely any more influen- 
tial power, in this respect, could be invoked ; for the pasha of 
Tripoli was a ruler whose name was dreaded in the kingdoms 
of interior Africa. 

It was no exercise of statesmanship which had given him this 
pre-eminence; neither was it an}^ hereditary submission to his 
authority. The simple fact was, that he was almost the only 
ruler of whom they had ever heard, whose followers were arm- 
ed with muskets. It was the magic power of gunpowder which 
so exalted him in their eyes; and it is said that on more 
than one occasion the natives have expressed their surprise 
that he had not, long since, compelled all Europe to embrace 
the Mohammedan faith. 

Under such favorable circumstances, the government re- 
solved that there should be no further delay, after leaders for 
a new expedition had been secured. Notwithstanding the fact 
that every line upon the map of Africa which had been drawn 
within the past half century represented the sacrifice of more 
than one life, there were not wanting volunteers for the service. 
Major Denham, of the army, Lieutenant Clapperton, of the 
navy, and Dr. Oudney, a naval surgeon of considerable ac- 
quaintance with natural history, were selected for this work. 

87 



88 CLAPPEKTON AND DENHAM* 

They proceeded at once to Tripoli, where they arrived Novem- 
ber 18, 1821. 

The pasha received them with much ceremony, and invited 
them to a hunting-party on the borders of the desert. But the 
rather obsequious attention which they received did not blind 
their eyes to the prevailing barbarism ; they saw clearly, in 
more than one instance, that they were dealing with a man 
who was no more than half -civilized ; and they realized that 
their difficulties had begun. 

The party set out for Mourzouk, and presented there the 
letters which the pasha of Tripoli had provided them with ; ' 
but the sultan of Fezzan was by no means disposed to obey the 
commands of his superior ; perhaps because he was doubtful of 
that superior's sincerity in commanding him to assist these 
strangers. He evaded their request t5 provide them with an es- 
cort, and declared that he must visit the court of Tripoli in 
person; they could await his return, when he would attend to 
their request. They were not a little doubtful as to whether 
they ought to accept the invitation of Boo Khalloom, a great 
merchant who asked them to accompany an expedition which he 
was preparing for a journey across the desert to Bornou. 
While they were hesitating, both Boo Khalloom and the sul- 
tan departed for Tripoli, to watch each other in the intrigues 
which each intended to conduct there. 

Chafing under this uncalled-for delay. Major Denham re- 
solved that he would hasten matters. He accordingly return- 
ed to Tripoli in person. An interview with the pasha was high- 
ly unsatisfactory ; for the prince who had professed such read- 
iness to serve the English was ready to evade the obligation 
if he could, and would promise nothing sufficiently definite to 
satisfy the impatient explorer. Under such circumstances, 
Major Denham resolved that he would return to England and 
lay the case before the authorities there. He accordingly set 
sail; the pasha heard of his departure, and, thoroughly alarm- 
ed at the result of his temporizing policy, sent several messen- 
gers after Denham. One of these vessels finally overtook that 
in which the Englishman had sailed, while it was performing 
quarantine at Marseilles; and informed him that the pasha 
had actually made arrangements Avith Boo Khalloom to escort 
the party to Bornou. Major Denham accordingly returned at 
once, and found the great merchant awaiting him on the bor- 
ders of the desert. 

While Boo Khalloom is called a merchant, he was very differ- 
ent from the man whom that term usually suggests to our 



CLA^tERTOK AND DENHAM. S9 

mmds. Being obliged to conduct his assistants, with the stores 
of goods, across a country inhabited by savage, warlike, and 
thieving tribes, it was necessary for him to provide a guard, 
and to be enough of a soldier to manage this guard himself ; 
for he could not always depend upon hired chiefs. These sol- 
diers become veterans, and are a source of anxiety to the prince 
in whose territory they may chance to be ; their employer is a 
man to be dreaded. Then, too, in most cases at least, the mer- 
chant of the desert is not above those means of obtaining 
goods at the expense of others which he deprecates when he is 
the victim. To put the matter plainly, he resorts to robbery 
when he can; and considers this quite as legitimate a method 
of replenishing his stores as that of purchasing in the market. 
At that time, too, it must be remembered that the slave trade 
had not been abolished; there were slaves, not only in the Un- 
ited States, but in the British colonies where the climate was 
such as to make their labor profitable ; in addition to the trade 
which was surreptitiously carried on by the dealers in human 
flesh and blood with these two great nations, and others of 
similar rank, there was a constant demand for slaves from Mo- 
hammedan countries, where the traflSc was not prohibited by 
law. The slave trade was one which offered large profits when 
the goods could be obtained for nothing, and sold at a high 
price. The Arab merchants of the desert, then, scrupled not 
to enter upon great slave-hunting expeditions, as we shall find 
later on. 

Arrived at Mourzouk about the end of October, 1822, Ma- 
jor Denham found both his companions prostrated by disease. 
This was not a promising beginning; but persuading them- 
selves that a change of air would be beneficial, the two inva- 
lids soon declared themselves ready for the journey; and went 
onward to Gatrone, even before the merchant was prepared to 
begin the journey. Major Denham was left in Mourzouk to 
complete the necessary arrangements, and to watch over the 
fidelity of Boo Khalloom. 

The expedition, when finally it was ready, numbered two 
hundred and ten Arabs, under different chiefs, besides the 
merchant and his English proteges. The latter, having been re- 
ceived into their camp, and having eaten of their bread and 
salt, were protected by the inviolable law of the hospitality of 
the desert. 

Through the wastes where not a living thing, outside of the 
group of beings that composed the caravan, could be discerned, 
where the earth was crusted with salt that glittered in the 



90 CLAtPEtiTON AND DEKHAM. 

crevices like frost, where the ripple of the blowing sand mur- 
mured like a gentle stream, where every noise was rendered 
doubly impressive by the solemn stillness, they journeyed on 
the path marked out by the footsteps of a thousand caravans. 
Soon the lonely grandeur of the desert received a new element 
of horror — their way was strewn with the skeletons of those 
who had trodden this very path, and died, of starvation, of 
thirst, or at the hands of the marauding tribes that would 
haunt their footsteps. Sometimes they were found singly ; at 
l^laces they would be seen in groups of fifties and hundreds; 
while at the wells of El Hammar they were almost innumera- 
ble. The horses' feet would crash among the bones before the 
rider was aware of their presence ; and the skulls would bound 
before them like balls. 

In this approach to the territory of Soudan the travelers be- 
gan to witness the exercise of mutual plunder between the 
caravan and the natives. However strict a guard was kept, an 
animal would occasionally stray off ; and this was seized by the 
inhabitants of the region as their rightful booty. Even a dog 
had been killed, and every shred of his flesh eaten. A gor- 
geously dressed herald had been sent forward to announce their 
coming to the sultan of Bornou; they found him tied to a 
tree, literally stripped of his gay accouterments. On the oth- 
er hand, no sooner did the caravan come within sight of any 
village than the inhabitants were seen fleeing at full speed, 
carrying with them all their portable goods. The Arabs, in 
great indignation at being thus mistrusted, pursued them, sole- 
ly with a view of correcting the misapprehension under 
which they labored. The correction of this misunderstanding, 
however, as the . Englishmen found, involved the most rapid 
process of plunder which they had ever witnessed. In a few 
seconds the camels were relieved of their burdens, and the 
owners stripped to the skin. On such occasions, Boo Khal- 
loom insisted upon restitution being made, as soon as the mat- 
ter was brought to his attention ; but the white men were not 
a little doubtful as to whether he would have done so if they 
had not been of the party. 

The expedition advanced rapidly until it reached the most 
northern province of Bornou, and arrived at its chief town, 
Lari. Here they beheld, glowing with the golden rays of the 
sun, the vast expanse of Lake Tchad. Major Denham hasten- 
ed to the shores of this inland sea, which were darkened by 
immense bevies of water-birds of various species. Overcoming 
his scruples at the slaughter of fowls so tame, he fired several 



t^AI»PEtlTON ANI) t)SNttAM. 91 

times among them, and soon filled a large basket with the 
game. 

It was evident that the bed of the lake was constantly 
changing; for although this was not the rainy season, they 
saw long stalks of the grain called gussub growing in places 
that were entirely under water. 

They found the country of Bornou under a double rule, real 
and nominal. Some twenty years before it had been subdued 
by the Fellatas ; but a peasant had headed a successful revolt 
against their foreign masters, and was in consequence regard- 
ed with intense affection and respect. The claims of the 
hereditary monarch, however, were not to be lightly set aside ; 
so that he received all honor, and was surrounded by the ap- 
pearance of regal authority, while the real power was in the 
hands of the successful soldier. Fortunately for the travelers, 
the latter agreed to forward their plans, although they after- 
ward proved to be wholly incomprehensible to his illiterate 
mind. 

In the wilds of Africa as well as in the midst of civilization, 
vanity rules the human mind. This favorable decision of the 
chief was partly influenced by the fact that Major Denham as- 
sured him the king of England had heard of him. Much grati- 
fied, the dusky sheik turned to his lieutenant and remarked 
that that must be in consequence of their late success in some 
petty strife with their neighbors. The lieutenant demanded 
to know if the king had heard of him. 

" Certainly," replied Denham, without a moment's hesita- 
tion. 

" The king of England must be a great man," was the ver- 
dict of all. 

Further propitiated by the gift of a music-box, and a little 
alarmed by the magical power which must be possessed by a 
man who could display sky-rockets, the sheik agreed to send 
the party forward to the sultan. Proceeding to the city where 
his majesty resided, they were, after due formality, admitted 
to his august presence. They found him surrounded by about 
three hundred courtiers ; they deposited the presents which 
they had brought with them; not a word was vouchsafed 
them, and of course they could not speak until they were 
spoken to; they were conducted from the presence of the 
sultan, and that was all they ever saw of him. 

Nevertheless, this presentation in due form enabled the real 
ruler to grant them the privilege of remaining in the country, 
and of prosecuting their journey when it should please them. 



92 CLAPPERTON AND DENaAM. 

Bomou is not the only country in the world where useless 
forms are insisted upon, as if essential to the welfare of the 
world. 

Having dispatched his affairs in Bornou, Boo Khalloom 
wished to make an expedition into the Soudan ; but his fol- 
lowers had other aims in view. They wished to attack a vil- 
lage in the Mandara Mountains, to the south of Bornou, and 
carry off the people as slaves to the markets of Fezzan. Boo 
Khalloom resisted this proposal, but was overruled, even his 
own brother and the sheik siding with the others. He con- 
ducted the affair in person. 

The sheik had forbidden the English travelers to take part 
in this expedition, and it seems that no such prohibition ought 
to have been necessary. But Major Denham was so bent up- 
on exploring the country that he decided the end would justify 
the means ; and succeeded in evading this command to remain 
in Bornou. 

The party was accompanied by a body of Bornou cavalry, 
commanded by the principal general, Barca Gana. They chose 
a path which was so little used that twelve pioneers had to 
precede the main body, to clear out the thick undergrowth; 
and their provisions were of the simplest kind. 

At length they reached Mora, the capital of Mandara. The 
sultan of this tribe was on the most friendly terms with the 
ruler of Bornou, and there was a close alliance between them. 
The fact that the Bornou party had come to make slaves of 
Mandara villagers does not seem to have been regarded as a 
breach of their treaty. On the contrary, the new-comers were 
received in a very friendly manner ; and even their white com- 
panion was treated with courtesy until the Mandarans had 
asked the question : " Is he Moslem?" This being answered 
in the negative. Major Denham was eyed with much suspicion, 
and was not again allowed to enter the palace. The Moham- 
medan doctors belonging to the court spared no pains to in- 
duce him to become a convert to their faith; and having fail- 
ed to do so, classed him in point of religious belief with the 
pagans. Major Denham pointed to a party of the savage 
neighbors of the Mandarans devouring a dead horse, and de- 
manded of Boo Khalloom if he had ever seen the English do 
the same; thinking by this means to show that his countrymen 
were of higher rank in the scale of civilization. 

" I know," replied the Arab, "that they eat the flesh of 
swine, and God knows that that is worse." 

His appeal being thus answered, the gallant major seems to 



1 



CLAPPEUTON AJSD DEKlIi^I. &S 

have given up the defense of his religion, and borne their in- 
sults in silence. 

The appearance of the party of Arabs and Bornouese great- 
ly alarmed the people of the villages, savages who paid tribute 
to the sultan of Mandara and should have had protection from 
him. They sent in ambassadors with gifts and entreaties that 
they might be spared. The sultan was apparently moved by 
these appeals, and intimated to Boo Khalloom that these peo- 
ple might be won over to the true faith of Islam by gentler 
means than being sold into slavery, for their expedition of 
course, had a religious coloring. But Boo Khalloom did not 
trust his host, and privately told Major Denham so. The aim 
of the sultan was to persuade the Arabs of the caravan to at- 
tack some strong Fellata outposts near the boundaries of his 
territory; if the garrisons were defeated, that enemy was out 
of the way; if Boo Khalloom 's men were routed, that was none 
the worse for the Mandarans. 

For some reason. Boo Khalloom allowed himself to be per- 
suaded to undertake this campaign; perhaps his unruly follow- 
ers preferred it ; perhaps he acted under absolute compulsion 
from the sultan, who was his master de facto, while his party was 
in Mandara. They set out gaily, the united bodies of cavalry 
presenting a warlike appearance which inspired the English 
soldier with high hopes of success. He did not then know 
what arrant cowards can be found in a body presenting such a 
fine martial array. They attacked a Fellata town, and the 
Arabs drove the garrison and inhabitants to a smaller place 
just beyond it. Continuing the fight, the enemy was com- 
pelled to take refuge in a third and stronger position, inclosed 
by high hills, and fortified in front by numerous swamps and 
palisades. This was likewise attacked, and its defenses 
forced, the Fellatas being terrified by the guns of the Arabs. 

This was their last stronghold, and had the Arabs been sup- 
ported by a single charge of the gorgeous cavalry, the victory 
would have been won. But they were *' kid-glove soldiers," 
if the expression may be applied to savage warriors; their 
trappings and accouterments were part of a show which had 
nothing behind it. They remained at a safe distance from 
danger, keeping carefully under cover from the arrows and 
spears of the enemy. 

The condition of the Arabs was alarming ; scarcely a man 
was left unhurt, and their horses were dying under them. Boo 
Khalloom and his steed were both wounded with poisoned ar- 
rows; Major Denham's horse was so wounded in the shoulder 



94 CLAPflEilTON AND DENHAM. 

that the animal could scarcely support his weight. Seeing 
their condition, the Fellatas dashed in among them. Even 
then, a timely support from their companions might have 
turned the tide of battle ; but the Bornouese and Mandaran 
cavalry, headed by the sultan of the latter people, turned and 
fled as fast as their gorgeously caparisoned horses would car- 
ry them from the scene of conflict. 

Major Denham was in a truly alarming position; his horse 
staggered and fell ; then, alarmed by the noises behind him, 
while the Major was upon the ground endeavoring to raise 
him, sprang up and darted off. Four Arabs who were gather- 
ed around him were stabbed by the infuriated Fellatas ; and 
he momentarily expected the same fate. It was from no re- 
gard to the white man's nationality or services that he was 
spared; the strokes of the dagger would have cut his clothes, 
which his enemies were anxious to preserve. 

He was taken prisoner, then, unhurt; and was at once strip- 
ped to the skin, while his captors proceeded to divide the spoil. 
While they were quarreling over the division of his clothes, he 
contrived to slip away, and rejoin his fleeing friends, the rem- 
nant of the Arabs. 

The whole party that had set out from Fezzan had suffered 
most severely. Forty-five of their number, including their 
chief, had fallen; and they had lost all their. camels and other 
property. To keep themselves from starvation, they were 
obliged to beg from Barca Gana. The sultan treated them 
with the utmost contumely, notwithstanding the fact that they 
had suffered while fighting his battle. 

Returning to Bornou, after this experience of African war- 
fare. Major Denham accepted an invitation from the sheik of 
that country to accompany an expedition against the Mungas, 
a rebellious tribe on the southwestern boundaries of the coun- 
try. They set out in state, even the sultan and his harem ac- 
companying them for some distance, in order to lend pomp to 
the occasion. Their route lay along the River Yeou or Gam- 
barou, through a country which had been desolated by war- 
fare, and actually depopulated, the inhabitants who had es- 
caped the sword being carried into slavery. 

On this journey, they did not wholly escape danger from the 
devices of the late inhabitants. The Tuaricks are the scourge 
of all this portion of Africa, and frequently make predatory 
inroads upon defenseless villages, carrying off men, women, 
children and cattle. Against them the people have but one 
mode of defense; they dig pits, at the bottom of which they 



CLAPPERTON AND DEJOIAM. 95 

imbed sharp stakes ; the surface is then restored, so that the 
unwary invader supposes that he is riding along a smooth 
stretch of country; rider and horse fall into the trap, and are 
impaled upon the stakes, sometimes killed; even when but 
wounded, they are unable to extricate themselves without as- 
sistance. Unfortunately for other travelers, these pits are so 
cunningly contrived that they deceive neutrals as well as ene- 
mies, and more than once Major Denham barely escaped fall- 
ing into one of them. 

Arrived at the point where the conflict was expected to take 
place, extensive preparations were made. The sultan, who had 
sent his harem back and proceeded on the journey, reviewed 
the troops, who rfumbered nine thousand spearmen, besides 
other forces. Having done this, he turned his attention to 
other preparations, and spent three nights in inscribing bits 
from the Koran upon little scraps of paper. Major Denham 
consented to send up some sky-rockets, as additional aids 
to the prowess of the soldiers. The enemy was, by some 
means, kept informed of the sultan's nightly occupation; the 
rockets spoke for themselves ; and the rebellious Mungas, who 
had been described as fierce and bold warriors, came in by 
hundreds, offering submission; and the rebel chief at last ap- 
peared, and surrendering unconditionally, found himself heap- 
ed with honors and robes by his forgiving master. 

This expedition enabled Major Denham to become acquainted 
with the southwestern portion of Bornou, and to trace with 
exactitude a considerable portion of the River Yeou; although 
neither the head-waters nor the mouth were visited by him. 
His next effort was to explore the Shari, a river of which he 
knew only that it flowed into Lake Tchad, and that upon its 
banks the kingdom of Loggene was situated. In this expedi- 
tion he w^as accompanied by Mr. Toole, a young adventurer 
who had set out from Europe, after his departure, to join him; 
and had crossed the desert from Tripoli with some one of the 
numerous caravans. They struck the river at the town of 
Showy, which is situated just at the head of the delta by which 
it empties into the lake; they descended it to the mouth, then 
retraced their steps, and ascended it as far as Loggene, the 
capital of the country of the same name. They found this a 
handsome city, w^ith unusually wide streets. They were re- 
ceived very kindly by the sultan, who inquired, when they 
were introduced to his presence, if they were seeking fe- 
male slaves; his majesty wished to be informed, as he had sev- 
eral hundreds of whom he was willing to dispose at low 



96 CLAPPERTON AND DEl^HAM. 

• 

rates. Declining this offer of merchandise does not seem to 
have excited any anger on the part of the would-be seller ; he 
simply solicited a poison *' which would not lie," to be used 
against his son ; and accompanied the request with a bribe of 
three lovely black damsels. It is needless to say that this pro- 
posal excited much horror, at which the sultan only laughed. 
He need not be considered an exceptionally unnatural mon- 
ster, however, for making such a request ; for the son himself 
asked the explorers for a similar poison, to be used against his 
father. 

Notwithstanding these instances of savage disregard of hu- 
man life and one of the closest ties of nature. Major Denham 
found these people farther advanced, in many respects, than 
their neighbors; they made a better quality of cloth, and had 
even a rude coin of iron, which passed current among them — 
an approach to money which was not possessed by any of their 
neighbors. But the people seem to have had no idea of hon- 
esty; and it was all that Major Denham and his companion 
could do to keep the contents of their pockets in safety. 

The death of Mr. Toole, and the rumor that a considerable 
body of Begharmis were about to attack Bornou, determined 
Major Denham to return. This attempt was repulsed without 
much difficulty ; but worse fortune attended an aggressive move- 
ment of the Bornou army. Certain islands along the south- 
eastern shores of Lake Tchad, are populated by a tribe of 
Arabs; it was designed to attack these, riding through the 
water, which is so shallow as to require no bridge. But 
the Bornou army was hurried forward by its desire for plunder, 
and the safe paths through the lake were unknown to them ; 
the assailed tribe, on the contrary, were thoroughly familiar 
with the place, and could ride as rapidly and surely through 
the water as on land. The failure of this expedition, which 
ended in a disgraceful flight, prevented any farther attempt, 
at that time, at exploring the eastern shores of Lake Tchad. 

We have thus far followed the adventures of Major Denham. 
His companions had not been inactive. Dr. Oudney and Mr. 
Clapperton proceeded nearly due east from Kuka, their first 
goal being the ancient town of Kano. Before they reached 
this point, however. Dr. Oudney died, and was buried near the 
banks of the Komadgu River. 

Proceeding unaccompanied by any of his own nation, but 
under the protection and guidance of a caravan, Mr. Clapper- 
ton visited many different towns of Houssa, in which he was 
received with much distinction j for it was rumored that the 




mXERIOR OF AN ORIENTAL HAREM. 



98 CLAPPERTON AND DENHAM. 

white man could, at will, convert men into asses, goats, or 
monkeys; and that he could readily transform a handful of 
dust into as much gold. The traveler, showing with what 
difficulty he obtained an ass for his own riding, and that he 
was not possessed of an undue quantity of the precious metal, 
re-assured the frightened natives, who dreaded that such re- 
markable powers might be turned against them and their 
country. 

Having remained some little time in Kano, and become fa- 
miliar with the customs of the place, and particularly with the 
market, Mr. Clapperton succeeded in securing the escort of 
another caravan, which was going as far as Sakati. This ap- 
peared to the traveler to be the most populous city which he 
had seen in the interior of Africa; and one of the best-plan- 
ned and most substantially built. He was well received by the 
sultan, a man of considerable intelligence, to whom his in- 
struments afforded much interest. 

The sultan boasted not a little of the extent of his empire and 
his power over allied tribes. Mr. Clapperton listened to such 
boasts with much gravity, and was perhaps impressed by 
them with an exaggerated idea of his host's dominions. 
This is scarcely to be wondered at, since that whole country 
was then, except for the explorations of the Portuguese and 
the first expedition of Park, a terra incognita to Europeans. It 
had been his aim, during this whole journey, to reach the coast 
by a route leading westward and southward from Bornou ; and 
he asked from this powerful and friendly monarch a guide to 
the Gulf (or Bight) of Benin. 

It must have been somewhat embarrassing to the sultan of 
Sakati when the stranger asked him to give the name of some 
one of his seaports at which the English might land ; for such 
seajDorts are like those of Bohemia, of which Shakespeare 
speaks in the * 'Winter's Tale." In fact, his majesty's dominions 
did not extend to a point within several hundred miles from 
the sea; but this was a circumstance of which it was not worth 
while to inform the stranger. 

In addition to this reason for refusing him the guide that he 
had requested, Mr. Clapperton was feared by the Arab mer- 
chants. If he opened up a communication with the coast, they 
argued, their profits derived from goods brought across the des- 
ert would be materially diminished. Influenced by these two 
considerations, the sultan begged of Mr. Clapperton that he 
would dismiss the idea from his mind ; the country was full of re- 
bellious tribes, against whom not even his mighty protection 



I 



CLAPPERTON AND DENHAM. 99 

could always avail ; and the traveler, he feared, would in this 
rash endeavor meet with grievous harm. There may have been 
some sincerity in this pretext, though ; for the country was 
really in a very bad condition. The explorer w^as told that he 
could reach home only by retracing his steps ; and finding that 
this was indeed the case, he returned to Kukaby a slightly dif- 
erent route. 

Among the results of this expedition, was the obtaining of 
an account of Mungo Park's death; or rather, a confirmation 
of what had been previously told. Mr. Clapperton w^as ex- 
tremely anxious to obtain the journal of the earlier traveler, 
which he had heard was still at Yauri ; but the refusal of the 
sultan of Sakati to afford him a guide, as we have seen, pre- 
vented him from going farther south. 

The two travelers met at Kuka, and proceeded thence to 
Tripoli by way of Mourzouk; arriving at London in June, 
1825, or almost four years after the time of their departure. 

Mr. Clapperton (who was promoted to the rank of captain 
shortly after his return) had been much impressed by the sul- 
tan of Sakati's boasts in regard to the extent of his ter- 
ritories; and considered that some of that potentate's ex- 
pressions implied a promise to send a guard to certain coast 
towns, for the purpose of escorting any expedition which the 
English might send, into the interior. He thus represent- 
ed matters to the British government, which promptly re- 
sponded by placing him at the head of such an expedition, 
and naming Captain Pearce and Mr. Morrison as his associ- 
ates. The former was an excellent draughtsman, the latter an 
experienced surgeon. 

The whole affair was managed with such determination, that 
before the end of the year in which Denham and Clapperton 
had returned to London, this second party had reached the 
Gulf of Guinea, and w^as engaged in hunting for the towns 
which the sultan had named to their leader. It is needless to 
say that no such towms were found ; nor could they hear of any 
guard or guide that had been sent to conduct them to Sakati. 

They were not discouraged by this failure ; but resolved to 
penetrate the country, alone and unguided. Advised by a 
countryman who had long been a resident of the coast, they 
resolved not to ascend along the banks of the river, where the 
marshes bred pestilence of all kinds; but to push forward by 
an overland route from Badagry. 

The very beginning of the journey brought discouragement 
to the leader by the death of his followers. Setting out on the 
7 



100 CLAPPERTON AND DENHAM. 

seventh of December, they imprudently slept in the open air 
during two nights. From the fever which all three thus con- 
tracted, Captain Clapperton alone recovered; and proceeded 
on his perilous journey, attended only by his faithful English 
servant, Eichard Lander, and a not very trusty African, whom 
he had hired at Badagry. 

After a journey of about sixty miles, the travelers entered the 
kingdom of Yarriba, which had long been reported on the 
coast as the most powerful and populous kingdom of the in- 
terior, holding even Dahomey in subjection. They found agri- 
culture advanced to a degree beyond their expectations ; the 
looms were more ingenious machines than Clapperton had yet 
seen in Africa; while the cloths which they made w^ere dyed 
with the finest of indigo. 

Among the Arabs far in the interior, and the negroes who had 
had many dealings with them, the white men had found no very 
flattering reception ; w^hatever kindness w^as shown them was 
rather in spite of , than because of their color; and the fact 
that they were enemies of the jDrophet was an additional reas- 
on for their proscription. With the pagan negroes of this 
country there was no such religious reason for enmity; and 
besides this, they had heard reports from the coast of the 
white men's wonderful superiority in all arts and manufac- 
tures, and viewed these representatives of the favored race al- 
most as beings of a superior order. On entering any town, 
therefore, they were received with the most flattering demon- 
strations of respect, and in some instances singing and dancing 
were kept up through the whole night to celebrate their arrival. 

Their passage of the mountains north of Guinea was mark- 
ed by welcomes extended in the same spirit; everywhere they 
found those who w^ere ready to help them on their way, either 
by providing them with stores of food, or by furnishing them 
Avith guides over the diflicult passes of the mountains. The 
only obstacle was the fact that in many cases they were so earn- 
estly besought to remain for several days "with their dusky 
hosts that they could not refuse the request. 

The fame of their coming had preceded them, and scarcely 
had they crossed the mountains before an embassador arrived 
from the king, with a numerous train of attendants, mounted 
and on foot. The arrival of this guard of honor was in one 
sense unfortunate for those wdiom they came to escort; for, 
claiming free quarters among the people of the town, they de- 
voured all the obtainable food with such avidity that the hun- 
ger of the explorers was hardly satisfied, 



CLAPPERTON AND DENHAM. 101 

At Katunga, the capital, they were welcomed by the entire 
population, and dramatic representations, crude indeed, but 
representing the highest state of the art in Yarriba, were got- 
ten up for their entertainment. 

Although the king professed his desire to serve the strangers 
by every means in his power, he refused to further their jour- 
ney to the country of the Fellatas. To have penetrated to the 
kingdom of Yarriba and to have visited its monarch ought to 
be enough to have accomplished in one journey. Finally, af- 
ter much persuasion, seeing that the strangers were determined 
to proceed, he offered to sehd them into the interior by a safer 
route than that which they had chosen, although it was more 
circuitous. 

The first town of importance through which they passed was 
Kiama: at Wawa, a little farther on, a singular adventure be- 
fell the travelers. An Arab widow of twenty, dark-brown in 
color, and in figure nearly like a water-cask, was extremely 
anxious to secure a white husband. She first selected Lander, 
who, Captain Clapperton says frankly, was better looking than 
his master ; but the man repulsed her so decidedly that she 
turned her attentions upon the master. It was not enough 
that she invited him to her house; she followed him from 
place to place ; and his negro servant having accepted a wife 
from among her slaves, she claimed that the customs of, Afri- 
ca gave her a claim upon him. Under such circumstances. 
Captain Clapperton at once ordered his follower to return his 
wife to her former owner; this was done, and the widow was 
compelled to .cease her persecutions. It was intimated to Clap- 
perton that her designs had not been only upon himself as a 
husband; she had intended to secure power as well, by de- 
throning the king, aided by the courageous white men ; and 
share the throne as well as her enormous wealth with the En- 
glishman. 

The party touched the Niger at Boussa. Here they found 
seven boats awaiting them, with an embassy from the king of 
Yauri, promising that if they would visit him at his capital he 
would deliver up to them the books and papers of Park, which 
were still in his possession. He flatly refused, however, to 
turn these documents over upon any other condition. For 
some reason, which does not plainly appear. Captain Clapper- 
ton decided not to continue his course along the river, in ac- 
cordance with this request ; but to defer the visit to Yauri un- 
til a subsequent journey. He received from the people of 
Boussa, however, the fullest accounts of Park's death j and 



CLAPPEHTON AND DENhIM. 103 

they explained the attack upon him and his companions by 
saying that they had been supposed to be a band of Fellatas 
come upon a predatory expedition. As the Fellatas are given 
to such raids upon their neighbors, this explanation is, if not 
wholly true, at least probable. 

Eeaching Kano without adventure worthy of special notice, 
he found the whole surrounding country in a condition of tur- 
moil which augured ill for the further prosecution of his jour- 
ney. There was not a quarter in which the merchants dare 
send a caravan. Accordingly, he left nearly all his baggage at 
Kano, and proceeded to Sakati without any other incumbrance 
than the gifts which were designed for his friend the sultan. 

He found a different reception awaiting him, however, from 
that which he had so confidently expected. The untutored 
minds of the African princes could not understand why the 
king of England should go to the trouble and expense of send- 
ing missions, with gifts to the native princes, for the mere pur- 
pose of satisfying curiosity regarding the nature of the country 
and the character of its people. Their suspicions were 
aroused that all was not right ; and the sultan of Bornou had 
written to the ruler of Sakati that it was by means of such 
wiles as these that the English had trampled on India ; win- 
ning their way at first with gifts, and then maintaining their foot- 
hold with the sword. The writer therefore advised that Clap- 
perton should be put to death at once. 

But since this letter had been written and received, war had 
broken out between the two sultans. The chief of Sakati 's 
suspicions against Clapperton were not allayed by his adviser 
having become his enemy; on the contrary, he was simply 
jealous of that adversary, and of the gifts that Clapperton 
might have for him. The Englishman had left six muskets 
at Kano, and it was presumed that these were intended as 
a present for the sultan of Bornou ; as the sultan of Sakati 
had barely forty in his army, this number would be a 
valuable acquisition. It was therefore demanded that Clap- 
perton should send for them, and present them to his 
host at Sakati ; he declined ; whereupon the governor induced 
Lander, by false pretenses, to bring his master's baggage on 
from Kano, and forcible possession was taken of the six pre- 
cious guns. It was in vain that Clapperton remonstrated 
against this outrage and denounced it in terms which were 
hardly prudent, considering that he was wholly in the power 
of those who had committed it ; the reply was that he might be 
glad he had lost his muskets, as long as he kept his head. 



104 CLAtfERTON AND DENHAM. 

Nor was this all to which he had to submit. The sultan de- 
manded that the letter which Clapperton bore to the sultan of 
Bornou should be shown to him ; Clapperton of course re- 
fused; when the letter was forcibly seized. 

The leader of the expedition, as we have seen, had recover- 
ed from the disease which had killed his two followers at the 
very outset; but possibly the recovery was not so complete as 
he had hoped. At any rate, a subsequent exposure had again 
affected him ; and this anxiety and chagrin concerning the result 
of his mission so worked upon his mind that he was completely 
prostrated. No longer a favorite at the court, as he had been 
on the occasion of his former visit, those who had made loud 
professions of friendship now deserted him entirely; and he 
was left alone with his one countryman, the faithful Lander. 
He sank gradually ; and after expressions of fullest confidence 
in his tried companion, gave him instructions as to the dispo- 
sition of his property, and died. 

Softened by the death of the man whom he had so ill-used, 
and flushed with victory over his enemies, the sultan allowed 
Lander to bury his master with every mark of respect; and 
supplied him with the means of returning home. The chief 
advised him to return by way of the desert; but Lander ap- 
pears to have had enough of the Arabs, and preferred to re- 
trace his steps through the negro countries. 

There seems to have been something more than a hatred of 
the Arabs at the back of this determination. Lander had evi- 
dently caught his master's spirit; and with a resolution scarce- 
ly to be expected, in this connection, from a man occupying 
such a station, he decided that he would settle the vexed ques- 
tion of the course of the Niger. It should be remembered that 
even as late as 1825-6, the civilized world was in doubt upon 
many points of African geography; the assertion, indeed, 
might be made of a period sixty years later ; but at the time in- 
dicated, geographers had two theories regarding the Niger. Its 
general course, they knew, was toward the southeast as far as 
the town of Fandah; but whether thence it flowed south to 
the Gulf of Guinea or east toward the interior and thence into 
the Congo, they were not sure. This was the problem which 
Lander proposed to solve. 

His journey was not marred by special adventure until he 
had reached Dunrora, which, he was told, was due east of 
Fandah. He promised himself that in ten or twelve days at 
the farthest he should have reached the solution of this great 
problem. 



CLAi*PERTON ANl) DENHAM. l05 

But while he was thus on the very brink of discovery, he 
was withheld from it. Four horsemen overtook him, and 
delivered to him the positive command of the King of Zeg- 
zeg that he should return with them to Zaria. He resisted their 
persuasions as long as he could ; but they informed him that if 
they returned without him they should lose their heads; he 
accordingly yielded. The King of Zeg-zeg took great credit 
to himself for having saved Lander's life; for, he said, war 
had broken out between the sultan of Sakati and the people 
of Fandah, so that any one known to have visited and bestowed 
gifts upon the former would be in great danger from the more 
southern nation. Whether this were so or not, Lander was 
not permitted to follow the route which he had chosen ; but 
returned along the same road by which he and his master had 
come. 

In all the places through which he passed, anxious inquiries 
were made about "his father," as the people called Clapper- 
ton; and the ansv/er was received with genuine regret. He 
reached Badagry November 21, 1827; and after many delays 
landed in England in the following April. 

Were we to follow chronological order strictly, it would be 
necessary here to turn aside from the record of explorations 
made by Englishmen, and consider those made by men of other 
nations. But the travels of the Landers are so closely con- 
nected with those of Captain Clapperton, and their discoveries 
so nearly a following, out of his intentions, that we have 
thought it best to continue the narrative of the faithful fol- 
lower's adventures. 

After his return to England, Eichard Lander submitted to the 
British government his plan for the exploration of the Niger ; 
it was approved ; and he, together with his younger brother, 
John, was commissioned to set out from Badagry, and explore 
the country as thoroughly as possible between that and Lake 
Tchad. 

With this end in view, they embarked at Portsmouth, Janu- 
ary 9, 1830; and arrived at Cape Coast Castle February 22, 
"having had a quick but boisterous and unpleasant passage of 
forty-two days." It was nearly a month after that date before 
they reached Badagry, being delayed at various points along 
the coast. 

On the twenty-second of March, they set out upon their 
lonely journey into the country removed from all traces of 
civilization. The two Landers were the only white men of the 
party; they were fortunate enough to secure the services of 



106 CLAPPEBTOK AND DENttAM. 

Pascoe, the native who had accompanied Captain Clappertoil 
and accepted a wife at the hands of the enamored widow; he 
was now married to another woman, whose possession did not 
entail any evils upon his employer. Besides this man, they 
had four other natives, two of whom were qualified to serve 
as interpreters. 

They did not feel much encouraged by the reception accorded 
them by the king of Badagry. His whole manner was so cold 
and silent that they could only augur his unwillingness to assist 
them on their mission, until they learned that his army had re- 
cently suffered a severe defeat, and his best generals been capt- 
ured and put to death. The chief himself was just recover- 
ing from a severe illness; and to add to other misfortunes, the 
building which had contained his stock of gunpowder had 
taken fire by accident, and been totally destroyed in the explosion 
which ensued. Thus re-assured as to the reason of the chief's 
seeming indifference, the travelers took heart. 

They were extremely anxious to leave Badagry as soon as 
possible, for they foresaw that the rainy season would put a 
stop to their travels for several months. In addition to this 
reason, it soon became plain to them that if they remained long 
at Badagry, their stock of presents would be quite exhausted. 
But the king was by no means ready to see them depart. In 
anxious care to ensure their safety, he had sent messengers to 
Jenna, whither they proposed to go, to see that the road was 
quite safe, and to let the governor of Jenna know that he was 
to expect them. The messengers returned at last, but before 
the Englishmen were notified of the fact, they were sent back 
on some other errand; and the strangers must again await 
their return. 

When they had been at Badagry for some time, the chief 
expressed a desire to examine the presents which they were 
taking to the princes in the interior. They accordingly in- 
vited him to their quarters for that purpose. His mode of 
examination was this : he would look on languidly while the 
Landers unpacked their stores and displayed the various 
articles; if anything particularly pleased him, he would take 
it in his hand for a closer examination; and would bandit, 
not back to the travelers, but to one of his attendants. Nor 
was this all. Finding that they lacked many things which he 
desired, he caused them to write down a list of things which 
the king of England was to send him, including four coats for 
himself, exactly like those worn by his majesty of the British 
empire, and forty of a plainer style for his captains; fifty 



CLAttERTON AND DENHAM. 107 

muskets, twenty barrels of gunpowder, and a few other small 
notions. This list he said he would send to Accra by one of 
his head men, who would wait there until the articles should 
be ready for him. It was the opinion of the Landers, writing 
some time later, that the messenger must have waited there 
for some time. 

Satisfied by the possession of this list, the king agreed to 
furnish them with one horse, and sold them another. He 
also agreed to have a canoe in readiness to transport them up 
the river for some distance. At last, they escaped from Bad- 
agry, and late at night on the last day of March, having been 
delayed some hours waiting for the promised canoe, they 
embarked. 

They proceeded on foot, having hired twenty natives to carry 
their baggage; the horses were to follow them, in care of 
messengers of the king's. But on the fourth day after setting 
out, two men arrived from Badagry with the intelligence that 
the horses had proved unmanageable, in the canoes, having 
kicked out the bottom of one and upset another. The king 
had therefore", much to his regret, been unable to forward them 
as he had promised. History does not record how sincere was 
his regret that his messengers forgot to take with them the 
money that had been paid him for one of the horses, and the two 
saddles with which the travelers had taken care to provide 
themselves. 

Their journey was not impeded by any open hostility of the 
natives, although in their published journal they frequently 
complain of the evasions of the chiefs when assistance was 
requested, and the wholly unnecessary delays to which they 
were subjected. Remembering the cordial reception which 
had been given Captain Clapperton, and the friendly concern 
of the various chiefs when he himself returned alone after 
his master's death, the elder Lander had reckoned upon the 
same feeling being showed toward himself and his brother. 
But unfortunately for them, no less than one hundred and 
sixty governors of towns and villages between the starting 
point on the coast and the Kong Mountains had died from 
natural causes or been slain in war since the former expedi- 
tion. The new rulers were either but slightly acquainted with 
their duties, or not sure that their actions would meet with 
the approval of the superior, the king of Yarriba, resident 
at Katunga. 

There arose another occasion of delay. The Landers were 
affected by the climate to such an extent that their health 



CLAPPfiHtON AND DENilAM. 109 

su:ffered severely. Fortunately, they were not both prostrated 
at once ; so that neither was without careful and affectionate 
attendance. 

Shortly before the middle of May, they arrived at Katunga; 
having journeyed, first, by canoe up the river a short distance 
from Badagry ; then on foot overland ; then by means of horses 
or canoes whenever such were obtainable; but by far the, 
larger part of the journey had been made on foot. Well re- 
ceived by the monarch of Katunga, they were assigned to the 
same hut which had been occupied by Captain Clapperton. 

The Moussa River divides the kingdom of Yarribafrom that 
of Bornou. A day or so after the arrival of the travelers at 
Katunga, a messenger brought news that the Fellatas had ar- 
rived at this river, and had attacked a town upon its banks. 
As their route lay through this very town, it was necessary 
that they should delay their journey until a messenger Avho 
was to be sent to Yauri could learn if his mission would be 
safe. He would then proceed to Yauri by way of Kiama. It 
seemed a little suspicious to the travelers that this event 
should have taken place exactly at this time, and at such a place 
as to affect the safety of their progress ; but they wisely kept 
their suspicions to themselves, since the expression of them 
could do no good, and would only offend the savage chief upon 
whose good humor they were dependent. 

Their delay might have been less irksome to men so desirous 
of discovering important facts, if they had been permitted to 
make inquiries ; but the Yarribans evidently do not encourage 
curiosity; the questions which the travelers put regarding the 
nature of the country, distances, the customs of the people, 
and all other circumstances, received replies which Avere either 
contradictory or obviously false, or else the inquirers were 
were told plainly to ask no questions. Added to this, they 
found that their interpreters had such an imperfect knowledge 
of both languages that their versions of what was said could 
not be relied upon in all cases ; so that they decided that they 
could believe only what they saw. Annoying as these failures 
to obtain information must have been to them, these circum- 
stances have vastly increased the value of the record found in 
their joint journal. 

The travelers found that the people of Kiama, a town which 
they reached toward the latter part of May, were professedly 
Mohammedans, although, like the other inhabitants of this 
part of Africa, they were extremely superstitious, trusting 
much to fetishes. This condition of religious belief is true of 



no CLAPPEHTON AND DENHAM. 

many other towns, but in none had they found it more strongly 
marked than in Kiama. 

No event of importance marked their journey until the 
middle of June, when they came within sight of the city of 
Boussa, which they found situated on the mainland, instead of 
on an island, as it had been described by Captain Clapperton ; 
and descried in the distance the faint outlines of two hills, at 
the foot of which, their guide informed them, lay the town of 
Yauri. Before them rolled the Niger, the first goal of their 
journey. 

But the appearance of the famous stream was far from ful- 
filling their expectations. At this point, says the elder Lander, 
the Niger, *'in its widest part, is not more than a stone's throw 
across at present. The rock upon which we sat overlooks the 
spot where Mr. Park and his associates met their unhappy 
fate; wx could not help meditating on that circumstance, and 
on the number of valuable lives that have been sacrificed in 
attempting to explore this river." 

The travelers were a little doubtful as to the wisdom of 
stating their errand openly, and at first merely gave out that 
they were traveling to Bornou by way of Boussa. Finding that 
the king was well disposed toward them, hoAvever, they sent a 
message by their interpreter, saying that if any books or pa- 
pers belonging to Mr. Park were in the king's possession, he 
would do the travelers a great service by delivering such into 
their hands, or at least permitting them to examine the docu- 
ments. To this the king replied that he was a very little boy 
when Mr. Park and his companions had been lost in the Niger, 
and he knew not what had become of his effects ; all traces of 
the white men had been lost at the death of the late king. 

This was a damper upon their hopes, until their host in- 
formed them that a first application of any kind was not favor- 
ably considered ; that if they expected any attention to be paid 
to it, they must renew it. He further assured them that he 
knew one book of Mr. Park's had been preserved. 

The request was accordingly renewed ; and after some little 
demur, the king undertook to find the man who had the book. 
The f olloAving afternoon his majesty again paid the travelers a 
visit, followed by a man who carried under his arm a parcel 
wrapped in a cotton cloth, evidently a book. Here was the 
volume, then, of the earlier explorer's journal; it is hard to 
say which had the rosier anticipations, the Europeans who ex- 
pected to secure such a prize to science, or the African who 
looked for a great reward from the English king. Unfortu- 



CLAPPERTON AND DENHAM. Ill 

nately for the hopes of both, the treasured volume proved to be 
only a set of logarithmic tables, from the pages of which a few 
loose papers, such as an English invitation to dinner and a 
tailor's bill, fluttered as they opened the book. 

Late in June, after a somewhat dangerous passage up the 
Niger, they arrived at Yauri. Here they found the people 
somewhat more communicative than they had been at Boussa ; 
and obtained considerable information regarding the visit of 
Mr. Park to this country. His gun and cutlass were still pre- 
served, and Lander found no difficulty in exchanging his own 
fowling-piece for the former. 

The sultan of Yauri had assured Captain Clapperton, in a 
letter, that he had possession of Mr. Park's papers; and the 
Landers now endeavored to obtain them; but after some days' 
delay, it became evident that he had nothing of the kind. 
They were therefore most anxious to proceed on their journey. 

It would be useless, however, for them to ascend the Niger 
any farther, having no means of conciliating the chiefs in 
whose territories they might be obliged to travel. It will be 
remembered that they had allowed the rapacity of the chief of 
Badagry to denude them of the bulk of their stores; their on- 
ly hope now was in reaching salt water, and returning home 
for a fresh supply. Meanwhile, the metal buttons on their 
clothes afforded them the means of buying the articles of which 
they stood in actual need. 

Their stay at Yauri was prolonged by the caprice of the sul- 
tan, but it was not until they had had some communication 
with the king of Boussa that they suspected they were actual- 
ly prisoners. By the interference of their late host, however, 
they were enabled to leave the town sooner than would other- 
wise have been the case. He provided them with a canoe in 
which to descend the river; for recent wars had made the 
overland route unsafe; and they were desirous of avoiding 
Badagry. 

It was about the first of August when they left. The land 
along the river-bank was largely planted in corn, which was 
now almost ripe. The living scarecrows afforded much amuse- 
ment to the Englishmen. Upon a platform ten or twelve feet 
high, a man, woman or child would be stationed to frighten 
away the small birds which often damage the crop very much. 
Sometimes a line would be attached to neighboring trees, hav- 
ing calabashes filled with stones strung upon it ; the watcher 
by rattling these would be enabled more effectually to perform 
his duty. 



112 CLAPPERTON AND DENHAM. 

It would be supposed that the Africans themselves would 
possess some definite idea regarding the course of this great 
river; but when the travelers had arrived at a point a few 
miles below Boussa, they were not a little concerned to find 
that it was here believed by some persons that the river took 
a turn to the eastward, and emptied into Lake Tchad. 

Arrived at Boussa, they found the king by no means dis- 
posed to favor their journey thence ; he told them gravely that 
he would have to consult the Black Water (the Niger) to see 
if it were safe. for them to proceed further. They presented 
him with a silver medal and chain, and informed him that it 
was a token of the special friendship of the king of England; 
the savage chief was much delighted, and told them later that 
his interview with the river had been the means of securing a 
promise from the stream that it would conduct them in safe- 
ty to its termination. 

Yet the time for their departure had not yet come. They 
were obliged to pay a visit to a neighboring chief, whose assis- 
tance had enabled them to reach Boussa on their journey 
northward ; and after their return to Boussa he detained 
them on one pretext or another until it was evident that 
they were very nearly destitute ; then at last they were per- 
mitted to depart. 

They wished to stop at as few towns as possible in their de- 
scent of the river ; both because they would thus save time, and 
because they had not the means of conciliating the chiefs. They 
therefore provided themselves with as much food as their 
means would allow; enough, according to their calculation, to 
last for three weeks or a month; and on the twentieth of Sep- 
tember embarked upon their voyage. 

Their journey was without special adventure until they 
reached the village and market of Kirree. Here they met with ^ 
a fleet of about fifty canoes, ascending the river. To the joy- 
ful astonishment of the travelers, the British Union Jack was. 
seen floating above the heads of the new-comers, most of whom 
were clad in garments of European cut. But all their fond an- 
ticipations vanished as they saw that the men in the canoes 
were all natives. The leader, who was in the first boat, beck- 
oned to the elder Lander to approach; to resist Avas hopeless; 
the canoes held each about forty men, all of whom appeared 
to be well armed ; their own square-built vessel was incapable 
of speed. Under such circumstances, Lander determined to 
sell his life as dearly as possible, and encouraged his follower^ 
to do the same, 




CROSSING A RIVER IN THE WILDS OF AFRICA. 



114 CLAPPERTON AND DENHAM. 

The assailants were evidently bent upon robbery, and re- 
lieved the Landers' boat of her entire cargo while the crew 
were defending themselves. Having accomplished this, they 
departed, leaving the little party to lament the loss of their 
goods. 

This was not all they did, however; large as the attacking 
party was, they gave chase; hoping to overtake the boat in 
which the booty was placed, and compel its return. In the 
mean time, the younger Lander, who had gone on ahead in an- 
other canoe with a part of the attendants, had discovered his 
brother's plight and come to his rescue. 

Such was the eagerness of the robbers to share the plunder, 
that many of the war-canoes clashed against one another, and 
three or four were upset. The boat of the younger Lander 
was also upset, and he was unable to reach his brother's ves- 
sel; nor could the elder afford him any assistance. Theirs 
was now a desperate strait. They were in reality prisoners in 
the hands of this war-party; and were hurried on board one 
of the war-canoes and taken to a neighboring island. 

Here, while the prisoners w^re kept in the canoe, a palaver 
or council of war was held. They were not without hope ; for 
they were visited by a person in a Mohammedan dress, who 
assured them that they were not without friends ; that all the 
Mohammedans who had come to attend the market were fa- 
vorably disposed toward them ; and that a large party about 
to arrive would take the part of the strangers. 

Summoned to the market-place after some hours of sus- 
pense, they were requested to examine the booty, and say if it 
embraced all of their property. It was far from being com- 
plete; the most serious losses being their guns, including that 
which had belonged to Park, most of the journal of the elder 
Lander, together with their stock of buttons and needles, on 
which they had relied as the means of purchasing supplies. The 
box containing their books, including one journal, their medi- 
cine chest, and a carpet-bag containing a little clothing, com- 
prised all that lay before them; the remainder of their 
property, they were told, had been sunk in the Niger. 

While the palaver was thus proceeding, it was suddenly in- 
terrupted by wild cries ; a number of the savages who had 
manned the war-canoes . made a dash to recover this spoil 
which had been taken from them. The effort proved unsuc- 
cessful, however; the sally was repulsed, and the council pro- 
ceeded with its deliberations. 

These lasted all day. Late in the afternoon, the decisjori 



CLAPPEKTON AND DENHAM. 115 

was rendered. It was to this effect: the Landers were to have 
what things had been taken from the water restored to them ; 
and the person who had first commenced an attack upon John 
Lander was to lose his head, for having acted without his 
chief's permission. The travelers, however, were to be con- 
sidered as prisoners, and were to be conducted to Obie, king of 
the Eboes (the tribe which had attacked them) that he might 
decide what should be done with them. 

The journey to the Eboe country occupied about three days; 
during this time our travelers might have observed the river 
more attentively if their captors had not decided that the 
heavy fog which arose at times was due to the fact that the 
river, which had never seen a white man before, was offended 
at the sight; so that the two Englishmen were obliged to lie 
down in the canoe, and suffer themselves to be covered with mats. 

Reaching the town of the Eboes, before they were received 
by the king, they learned from a native who boarded their ves- 
sel, and who was a man of some consequence, being no other 
than Gun, the son of king For day, who, with king Jacket, 
governed all the Brass country, that besides a Spanish schoon- 
er, an English vessel, named the Thomas, of Liverpool, was 
lying in the " first Brass River." 

They were received with some distinction by the king, who 
took several days to make up his mind as to what should be 
done with them. He finally announced that according to the 
laws of war, their persons and property belonged to him; and 
that he had decided to hold them for ransom, the price of the 
party, consisting of the two Englishmen and their attendants, 
being fixed at the equivalent of twenty slaves. This deter- 
mination, he said, he would communicate to the white men 
whose vessel lay near the mouth of the river ; and the captives 
must possess their souls in patience as best they might. It 
was in vain that they remonstrated with him, trying to per- 
suade him to send them forward, that their countrymen might 
be assured of their safety before paying the ransom ; but his 
mind was made up. 

After considerable argument, however, extending over a 
space of two or three days. King Boy, the brother of their first 
acquaintance, Gun, made the following offer: If they would 
give him an order on the captain of the vessel lying near the 
mouth of the river for thirty-five barv, or the value of as 
many slaves, and also for a cask of rum, he would undertake 
to transport them to the sea coast, and would pay the ransom 
demanded out of this sum. 



116 CLAPPERTON AXD DENHAM. 

It is needless to say that this offer was eagerly accepted, and 
that the required order was immediately written out. Embark- 
ing at once, the party of about sixty men set out on their pas- 
sage to the mouth of the Niger. 

They made the journey in a single canoe, hollowed from the 
trunk of a tree ; the vessel being about fifty feet long, wide 
enough for three men to sit abreast, and drawing something 
over four feet. The canoe was adorned with a number of 
flags, of which the peoples near the coast have a plentiful 
supply. 

They left the Eboe country November 11 ; late on the even- 
ing of the 14th, the travelers, to their great joy, observed that 
the river was influenced by the tide ; they were surely nearing 
the sea. The next day, after traveling all night, they arrived 
at king Forday's town, where they met with the master of the 
Spanish vessel which has been mentioned ; and where their 
arrival was made the occasion of ceremonies intended to be 
imposing, of the meaning of which they had not the least 
idea. They were finally told that Eichard Lander was to be 
taken to the coast, while his brother and the attendants were 
detained as hostages. 

Lander set out with high hopes; the only circumstance 
which dampened his ardor was that his brother must remain 
behind; but this was but for a few days at the most; and any- 
thing else was plainly impossible. They left king Forday's 
town on the 17th, and on the next day saw two vessels lying 
at anchor at the mouth of the river. 

One of these was the Spaniard, whose master they had seen 
at Brass Town ; the other was the ship of their own country- 
men. They first visited the former, but found small cheer; 
the crew were all sick, and scarcely able to move ; six had died 
during the six weeks that they had been there. Lander bade 
his new acquaintance adieu, and returned to the canoe, which 
now directed its course toward the English brig. 

He found this in even a worse condition than the Spanish 
vessel ; only four of the crew remained, and these were 
lying sick in their hammocks, while the captain seemed to be 
in the last stages of disease. To him Lander stated his case, 
and displayed his instructions, assuring him that the amount 
paid for the ransom of himself and his brother with their 
attendants would most certainly be repaid by the British 
government. To his surprise and dismay, the captain utterly 
refused to take any such risk. 

Lander was now indeed in a dreadful position; his last hope 



CLAPPERTON AND DENHAM. 117 

had failed him, and he knew not which way to turn. He 
appealed to King Boy to take him to Bonny, where there were 
other English ships ; but the savage retorted : 

*'No, no; this captain won't pay. Bonny captain no pay; I 
won't take you any further." 

A second appeal to the captain produced a response that if 
he could get his brother and their eight people on board, they 
should be taken away; further than this, the officer would not 
go. But the news that the attendants were, two of them sea- 
men with more or less experience, and three others who might 
be of service to him, he relented somewhat, and even gave 
Lander a piece of beef and some rum to send to his brother 
by King Bo}- , who was very discontentedly setting out on his 
journey back for the remainder of the party. 

The captain had no notion of giving any ransom for the 
captives ; but expressed his determination to get the party on 
board and then set sail. Lander was much worried for fear 
that the party would not arrive in time; for Captain Lake 
swore that if they were not there by the twenty-third he would 
sail without them. Fortunately for the explorers (for the 
party did not arrive until late at the night on the day set) his 
mate had been captured and was held by the pilot as security 
for pilotage which Lake refused to pay; and the brig was 
obliged to wait a day longer, until he managed to escape. 

John Lander and the attendants arrived, and were received 
on board. King Boy made many appeals for his money, but 
was answered with oaths and abuse. Finally, the arms of the 
vessel were made ready, and thus Avarned, the savage desisted 
from his just demand. 

Owing partly to the unfavorable winds, and partly to the 
lack of pilotage, the vessel was four days in trying to pass the 
bar at the mouth of the river. Finally, November 28, 1831, 
she passed it, and the travelers sailed slowly away from the 
mouth of the Niger toward Fernando Po, whence they went 
to Rio Janeiro, and thence to England, landing in their native 
country June 10. 

The Landers accomplished the exploration of the Niger 
from the point where Park's death had taken place to its 
mouth, thus determining that its course was not eastward to 
the Nile or Lake Tchad, or southeasterly toward the Congo. 
The great river between the desert and the Gulf of Guinea, it 
was now certain, was the same as that at the mouths of which 
British vessels had long been trading. 



CHAPTER VI. 



ADYEJfTURES OF DR. BABTH AjYD COMPAJflOJTS. 

'HE discoveries made by the Landers awakened no small 
enthusiasm among a certain class of Englishmen; and 
soon after the brothers arrived in their own country an 
association was formed, having for its purpose the es- 
tablishment of a settlement on the upper w^aters of the Niger. 
The expedition, however, proved a failure; many of those 
Avho set out died from the effects of the unhealthy climate, 
or from wounds receved in contests with the natives. The 
project was abandoned; and for fifteen years no further 
movement tow^ard the exploration of Africa was made by the 
British government. 

In 1849, it was decided to send, out another expedition, un- 
der the leadership of Mr. James Richardson. A German scien- 
tist was to be invited to accompany him, providing that the 
German would contribute two hundred pounds toward travel- 
ing expenses. The offer was accepted by Dr. Heinrich Barth, 
who was then lecturing at the University of Berlin upon com- 
parative geography. Eamily reasons induced him to seek a 
substitute in Dr. Overweg; but his offer had already been ac- 
cepted by the British government; and the result was that 
both accompanied Mr. Richardson. 

While Mr. Richardson was the leader appointed for the ex- 
pedition, Dr. Barth has always been much more prominently 
known in connection with it; being the only one of the three 
who returned in safety. 

There w^ere many delays attending their departure from the 
regions of civilization ; so that, although Barth and Overweg 
arrived in Africa before the close of 1849, the party did not 
set out from Tripoli until March 24, 1850. - Their journey to 
Mourzouk occupied a little more than a month ; and it was the 

118 



ADVEifTUiifis or i>&, barth and companions. ^ 119 

thirteenth of June when they set out from the capital of 
Fezzan. 

Acting by the advice of the British consul at Mourzouk, 
they had pursued a plan of which they were soon to see the 
evil. Mohammed Boro, a man of considerable importance in 
Negroland, having a house and numerous connections in 
Sakati, as well as in other places, had been solicited to protect 
the travelers. He was on his way back from a pilgrimage to 
Mecca, and was, of course, numerously attended. 




Dr. Heinrich Barth. 

This man had been recommended to them by the former 
governor of Fezzan, Hassan Pasha; but for some reason the 
consul distrusted and underrated him. The adventurers there- 
fore engaged the services of certain representatives of the 
chiefs of Ghat; or rather, negotiated for these services. The 
knowledge that this had been done greatly enraged Mohammed 
Boro, who swore that the travelers should not be safe from his 
people while crossing the desert. 



1^0 ADVENTURES OF DR. EARTH AND COMPANIONS. 

The first adventure with which any of them met, befell Dr. 
Barth. Eiding aside from the main road to visit a mountain 
which loomed in the distance, the distance proved to be greater 
than he had anticipated. He was but scantily provided 
with water ; and the food which he carried was simply dry bis- 
cuit and dates. 

Reaching the elevation at last, he found nothing to repay 
him for his trouble. A dry, narrow, pinnacled crest, there 
was neither inscription nor sculpture to be found ; nor could 
he, from the summit, see any traces of the caravan to which 
his little party belonged. 

Fatigues which elsewhere would be but trifles for a strong 
man, are upon the desert no slight things. Lacking water and 
food ( for the dry bread was hardly eatable without water 
to wash it down), he was soon completely exhausted by the 
heat. Anxious lest his party, thinking he was in the advance, 
should have pushed on, he made desperate efforts to reach the 
encampment. But his endeavors were vain ; and it was not 
until after a night spent alone in the desert that he was found 
by an Arab of the caravan, who had tracked him by his foot- 
steps in the sand. 

This occurred in the course of their journey to Ghat; up to 
this point, however, they were on comparatively well known 
ground; if the details of the road were strange, the cities 
which formed the several destinations were known to them and 
to their countrymen ; but now, they were to set out into what 
was indeed a strange country. 

The caravan was not pervaded by that unity Avhich is to be 
desired in a small party traveling through a dangerous coun- 
try. In addition to the trouble which always exists between 
Christians and Moslem, Boro Mohammed Avas a companion to 
be dreaded; and just as they arrived at Mararraba, his anger 
began to show itself. Still there was no open attack; and 
even though the caravan was followed by a party of free- 
booters, there was no conflict until after the travelers had 
passed the northern boundary of the oasis of Air. 

Before actually beginning hostilities, however, the free- 
booters sent embassadors to say that they would retire without 
molesting the caravan, if the Christians accompanying it were 
given up to them. This modest demand being refused, they 
retired for further consultation ; while the people of the cara- 
van took counsel as to the probable result of this. 

They found, the next morning, that, in spite of their guards, 
all their camels had been stolen in the night. Hardly had this 



ABVEN^tUJElES OF DR. BARTH AND COMPANIONS. 121 

discovery been made, when an emissary of the freebooters 
invited the principal men of the caravan to a council. 

The first demand which was made was that the "infidels" 
should be put to death ; but this their Mohammedan compan- 
ions would not assent to. Failing to secure this concession, 
the highwaymen invited them to return by the same way that 
they had come. This proposition being declined, they 
demanded that the Christians should become Mohammedans. 
The Moslem of the caravan would not mention this to their 
companions. Finally, the assailants suggested that the cara- 
van should be allowed to pass unmolested, if half the goods 
and baggage of the travelers were given up. This was getting 
down to business, and a compromise was finally effected by 
which goods to the amount of about fifty pounds sterling were 
given up to them. At last the leader professed himself satis- 
fied, and volunteered his protection for the future. Of course 
Boro Mohammed could have prevented this robbery if he had 
been inclined to do so. 

Nor was this the only instance of such robbery during this 
part of their journey. Mr. Richardson estimated that the 
journey from Tajetterat to Tin-Tillust, a distance of about 
three hundred miles, had cost the government two hundred 
and fifty pounds sterling. 

Arrived at this point, they received unmistakable state- 
ments regarding the intentions of the chief, Annur. If they 
wished to proceed with the caravan to Soudan, he would place 
no obstacle in their way; but if they wished his protection, 
they must pay liberally for it. The sum which he fixed seemed 
to Mr. Richardson very excessive ; but Dr. Barth thought it 
better to pay it at once than to be plundered ad libitum, as 
they had been. 

Annur stuck to his agreement, however; a rare virtue with 
his kind. He treated them with little consideration until Dr. 
Barth began to prepare for a visit to the sultan of Agades, 
when he became more attentive. This town, once as large as 
Tunis, is really of equal importance with Timbuctoo, that 
city so long sought by Europeans ; but by some strange chance 
has not attracted any such attention as its neighbor. 

The journey was attended by no incident of importance, 
although it required several days ; and the traveler was gra- 
ciously received by the sultan. The festivities which he 
attended, however, were scarcely a source of unmixed enjoy- 
ment; going to see a national dance, he was pursued to his 
quarters by armed natives, having a narrow escape from death. 



iiiii^^ 




ADVENTtJUES OF DR. BARTH AND COMP ANIONS. l23 

The reigning sultan had just acceded to the throne ; and 
Barth therefore had the advantage of witnessing the grand 
ceremonies of installation. The new chief proposed to sig- 
nalize his accession by a warlike expedition ; but before set- 
ting out upon it, furnished the traveler with letters to the 
governors of Kano, Katsena, and Daura. Dr. Barth remained 
in the town for a few da3's after the departure of the expedi- 
tion, studying the place and its people, and putting his mem- 
oranda into shape. Leaving Agades the last of October, he 
found, upon returning to the village of the chief Annur, that 
the whole population had disappeared; what had become of 
the more helpless members of the community, he does not 
say; but the chief had led a great salt caravan to Kano, and 
the explorers had, of course, accompanied him. 

There was nothing to be done, of course, but to press on 
toward Kano. '' Se fataiichi seKanof' (" No rest before 
Kano ! ") had been the cry raised when they found that their 
journey must perforce be continued, without even a night's 
rest; but having overtaken the caravan, they found them- 
selves obliged to submit to a delay of more than a month 
before the chief announced that he was ready to proceed. 

Taking up the line of march the middle of December, it 
was almost a month before the journey was marked by any 
incident which can be noticed in this brief account. At 
Tagalel, the three travelers separated, since traveling alone 
had now become possible, and the exhausted state of their 
finances made it necessary for them to try what each could 
accomplish, single-handed and without ostentation, until new 
supplies should arrive from home. 

Mr. Eichardson went on the road to Zinder, while Dr. Barth 
and Dr. Overweg, for the time, continued their journey with 
the caravan. After a few days, however, the two Germans 
separated from each other. Dr. Overweg proposing to proceed 
to Tasawa, as the starting point for an expedition to Gober 
and Maradi. 

Reaching Katsena, and presenting to the governor of that 
place such a scanty present as his means would allow, Dr. 
Barth was somewhat surprised to learn that his companion's 
having gone to Maradi provoked no unkindly feeling, although 
the two governors were bitter enemies ; but was by no means 
re-assured when the chief remarked that since one of his com- 
panions was in the hands of the governor of Maradi, and the 
other in those of the ruler of Bornou, he, the governor of 
Katsena, would be a fool to allow Dr. Barth to escape. 



124 ADVENTURES OF DR. BARTH AND COMPANIONS. 

By dint of patience, however, the traveler at last conciliated 
this formidable enemy; and was allowed to depart from Kat- 
sena after having been detained there for a couple of weeks. 
A journey of three days, and at last they arrived atKano. But 
here some extracts from Dr. Barth's journals will prove more 
graphic than any condensation can possibly be : 

'' Kano had been sounding in my ears now for more than a 
year; it had been one of the great objects of our journey as 
the central point of commerce, as a great storehouse of infor- 
mation, and as the point whence more distant regions might 
be most successfully attempted. At length, after nearly a 
year's exertions, I had reached it. 

" Kano was for us a station of importance, not only from a 
scientific, but also from an economical point of view. Instead 
of being provided with ready cash, we had received in Mour- 
zouk, on account of the British government, merchandise, 
which, we were assured, would not only be safer than money, 
but would also prove far more advantageous to us. In conse- 
quence of the heavy extortion to which we were subjected on 
the road to Air, and of our long delay in that country, we had 
been deprived of the small articles which we carried for bar- 
ter, so that we were entirely thrown upon the merchandise 
which we had forwarded in advance from Tinteggana. * * * 
For all these reasons, nothing could be more disagreeable 
and disheartening to me, though I was not quite unprepar- 
ed for it, than the information which I received the very 
evening of my arrival in Kano, that the price of merchandise 
such as I had was very low. * * Our commissioner, * * 
* * although he had two camel-loads of goods of mine in his 
hands, yet left me without a single shell, " ho uri guda'^ for a 
whole fortnight, so that I was glad to borrow two thousand 
kurdi, less than an Austrian dollar, from Mohammed e' Sfak- 
si, in order to defray the most necessary expenses of my house- 
hold. Besides, this agent urged the absolute necessity of mak- 
ing a considerable present not only to the governor, which I 
was quite prepared to do, but another of nearly the same 
value to the galadima or first minister, who happened to be 
the governor's brother, and enjoyed quite as much authority 
and influence. The consequence was, that I was obliged to 
give away the few articles of value in my possession merely 
for being tolerated and protected. ***** Being 
lodged in dark, uncomfortable and cheerless quarters, which 
I was forbidden to leave before the governor had seen me, 
destitute of a single farthing in cash, while I was daily called 



AD^TENtURES OF DR. EARTH AND COMPANIONS. l25 

upon and pestered by my numerous creditors, and laughed at 
on account of my poverty by an insolent servant, my readers 
may fancy that my situation in the great, far-famed entrepot of 
Central Africa, the name of which had excited my imagina- 
tion for so long a time, was far from agreeable. Partly from 
anxiety, partly from want of exercise, in the course of a few 
days I had a very severe attack of fever, which reduced me to 
a state of great weakness. Fortunately, however, I mustered 
sufficient strength to avail myself of a summons which called 
me into the presence of the governor, on the 18th of Feb- 
ruary; and by sacrificing Avhat few things remained to me, I 
paved the way for my further proceedings, while the degree 
of exertion which was necessary to undergo the fatigue of my 
visit carried me over my weakness, and restored me gradually 
to health." 

Leaving Kano, Dr. Earth's course was first to the south- 
east, then to the north-east, to Kuka, on the shores of Lake 
Tchad, where a rendezvous w^ith Mr. Eichardson had been ar- 
ranged. His journey was prosecuted without especial adven- 
ture until the 23rd of March, when, as he rode along, he was 
met and accosted by a strange-looking person of very fair com- 
plexion, richly dressed and armed, and accompanied by three 
men on horseback, likewise armed and with musket and pis- 
tols. The new-comer inquired if he were the Christian who 
was to arrive from Kano, and being answered in the affirma- 
tive, told him that Mr. Richardson had died before reaching 
Kuka, and that all his property had been seized. Dr. Earth 
was at first inclined to doubt this intelligence, but later inves- 
tigations proved that it was true. The leader of the mission 
had died in the wilds of Africa. 

The position of the two Germans was now somewhat critical. 
Sent out by the English government, or rather allow^ed to ac- 
company Mr. Eichardson, they must now be doubtful how far 
their demands upon that government, and their promises 
made in its name, would be honored. Nor could they, of 
course, expect instructions: shortly before learning of Mr. 
Eichardson's death. Dr. Earth had received news from home, 
the first in ten months ; and communication with the govern- 
ment would be both slow and uncertain. 

Dr. Earth spent some time at Kuka, exploring the city, or, 
rather, the two cities which are known by this name, and the 
neighboring country, including somewhat of the shore of Lake 
Tchad. His efforts to communicate with the Eritish govern- 
men proved unexpectedly successful, and he was assured that 



l26 ADVENTURES OF BH. BARtlt AND COMPAltlONg. 

he was fully authorized to carry out the expedition, and to ask 
for means. One chief object of the journey to Kuka was 
to negotiate a treaty for the protection of commerce ; and this 
the Germans were also empowered to consider. 

Dr. Overweg arrived at Kuka May 4, and the travelers left 
that city on the 29th of the same month. Before leaving, how- 
ever, Dr. Barth addressed dispatches to the government which 
fully show that he was aware of the greatness of the discover- 
ies which he was about to make; his letters display no incon- 
siderable knowledge of the geography of the country, gathered, 
not from investigations of others, but from patient question- 
ings of the natives, and shrewd observations of his own. 

His path led almost due south, from Kuka to the confluence 
of the Faro and the Benue. It had been supposed that the 
latter river, known along the lower portion of its course as 
the Chadda, was identical with the Shari, the principal tribu- 
tary of Lake Tchad ; perhaps the similarity of name between 
river and lake was the cause of the confusion. As above inti- 
mated, however, Barth was well assured, on setting out from 
Kuka, that there was no connection between the two streams. 

On the morning of the 18th of June, his servant cried to 
him: '* Look, look, that is Mount Alantika!" 

Straining his eyes, he discerned far in the south the vague 
outlines of a large but insulated mountain mass. But here, 
as once before, we will let the traveler tell his own story: 

'* It happens but rarely that a traveler does not feel disap- 
pointed when he first actually beholds the principal features of 
a new country, of which his imagination has composed a pic- 
ture from the description of the natives ; but although I must 
admit that the shape and size of the Alantika, as it rose in 
rounded lines from the flat level, did not exactly correspond 
with the idea that I had formed of it, the appearance of the 
river far exceeded my expectations. None of my informants 
had promised me that I should just come upon it at that most 
interesting locality — the Tepe — where the mightier river is 
joined by another of very considerable size, and that in this 
place I was to cross it. As I looked from the bank over the 
scene before me, I was quite enchanted, although the whole 
country bore the character of a desolate wilderness ; but there 
could scarcely be any traces of human industry near the river, 
as during its floods it inundates the whole country on both 
sides. This is the general character of all the great rivers in 
this region, except where they are encompassed by very steep 
banks. 



ADVENTURES OF DE. BARTH AND COMPANIONS. 127 

** The principal river, the Benue, flowed here from east to 
west, in a broad and majestic course, through an entirely open 
country, from which only here and there detached mountains 
started forth. The banks on our side rose to twenty-five, and in 
some places to thirty feet, while just opposite to my station, 
behind a pointed headland of sand, the Faro rushed forth, ap- 
pearing from this point not much inferior to the principal 
river, and coming in a fine sweep from the south-east, where 
it disappeared in the plain, but was traced in thought, 
by me, upward to the steep eastern foot of the Alantika. The 
river, below the junction, * * * was followed in thought 
* * * till it joined the great western river, the Kwara or 
Niger, and, conjointly with it, ran toward the great ocean." 

Thus clearly had Barth mapped out in his mind's eye the 
course of the river which other geographers supposed to be 
identical with a tributary of Lake Tchad. It was his intention 
to verify this idea by descending the stream, but his reception 
at Yola was such that this became impossible. The sultan of 
that place commanded him to return to Kuka; and such 
was the determination displayed by the potentate, that the 
traveler had no other choice. 

Meanwhile Dr. Overweg had not been inactive. He had 
traversed Lake Tchad in an English boat which, at immense 
cost of labor, they had brought across the desert; and had 
visited nearly all the islands which are dispersed over its sur- 
face. In order to explore the country to the northeast of 
Kuka, the two adventurers now joined an expedition organized 
by some Arabs, former inhabitants of Syrtis, the destination 
of which was Kanem. It seems to have been fully understood 
from the first that their new associates were freebooters ; but 
the Europeans did not appear to have realized fully the 
lengths to which they were ready to go. On one occasion. Dr. 
Barth was asked to act as arbitrator in a dispute which had aris- 
en ; the persons pleading their cause before him were not giv- 
en to euphemisms when the actions of the opponent were de- 
scribed ; and the effort to arrive at a peaceable solution of 
the difficulty was ended when the chief of the expedition 
rushed angrily into the tent and swore that he would shoot 
any one who spoke of robbery or injustice. 

Such pleasing little incidents of travel as the sight of a 
snake more than eighteen feet long, and nearly six inches in 
.diameter, hanging from a tree across their path, apparently 
ready to seize upon the first prey that presented itself, need 
scarcely be noted. Whatever the white men thought about it. 



128 ADVENTURES OF DR. EARTH AND COMPANIONS. 

the natives regarded it as a God-send ; for when it had been 
shot, they cut it open and took out the fat, which they pro- 
nounced excellent. 




An African licauty. 

The rapid marches of the freebooters somewhat inconven- 
ienced the explorers; and when it was found that nothing 
could really be accomplished while in their company, and that 



ADVENTURES OF DR. BARTH AND COMPANIONS. 129 

the men and camels were both worn out by the unceasing ex- 
ertion, it was resolved that the discoverers should accompany 
a caravan back to Kuka. 

The next expedition which they joined had at least an ap- 
pearance of respect for law and order; being a military march 
to enforce the obedience of a rebellious sub-chief. 

Their destination was Mandara, a small mountainous coun- 
try a little east of south of Kuka ; but although the ostensi- 
ble reason was that above stated, the real purpose of the 
expedition was predatory and slave-hunting. Both Drs. Barth 
and Overweg felt that, as representativoB of the British gov- 
ernment, they ought not to be a party to a slave-hunting expe- 
dition; but they reasoned thus: Their absence would not 
affect the determination of their companions, while their pres- 
ence might be the means of ameliorating some of the horrors 
attendant upon the " hunt;" it was their sole opportunity for 
visiting a part of the country which would be inaccessible to 
them alone; and they were therefore justified in joining the 
expedition. 

They came within a day's journey of the capital of Man- 
dara, Avhen they were met by emissaries from the prince, with 
Avhom a compromise of some sort, the terms unknown to the 
strangers, was effected. The Bornou force then turned toward 
the country of the Musgu, where a full supply of slaves was 
likely to be obtained. 

Their progi-ess was not unopposed ; and in one engagement 
the invaders lost nearly two hundred men. Finally, however, 
the prince of the country was subdued, and the army, with its 
booty of humanity, set out on its return march. Three thous- 
and slaves had been captured, scarcely any full-grown men 
among them. The heart sickens at the record of children 
torn from their mothers' arms, that the booty might be 
divided among the soldiers. 

Ten thousand head of cattle, captured from the enemy, still 
further attested the prowess of the army which re-entered 
Kuka on the first of February, 1852. Dr. Barth thus reviews 
the results of the expedition from his own point of view: 

'* Thus ended this expedition, which opened to us a slight 
glimpse into the richly watered zone of the equatorial regions, 
which had been supposed to form an insurmountable barrier 
of a high mountain chain, and brought us into contact with 
tribes whose character has been represented as almost 
approaching to that of wild beasts. We had certainly not 
entered those reofions under such circumstances as were most 



130 ADVENTURES OF I>R. BARTH AND COMPANIONS. 

desirable to us ; but on the contrary we had been obliged to 
associate ourselves with an army whose only purpose was to 
spread devastation and misery over them. Nevertheless, situ- 
ated as we were, while we could not prevent this mischief, we 
were glad that we had been enabled to see so much." 

Dr. Earth's next expedition from Kuka was toward the 
south-east, to the country of the Bagirmi; but he was kept 
waiting more than a month on the banks of the Shari, before 
he was allowed to cross that stream. Even when once per- 
mitted to cross it, he was detained almost as a prisoner until 
the sultan should have returned from a military expedition 
upon which he had started just before Barth reached the 
Shari; a period of some three months longer. 

While he was awaiting the pleasure of the sultan, after that 
dignitary's return to his capital, a messenger from Kuka 
brought him dispatches from England which fully confirmed 
him as leader of the expedition in Mr. Richardson's stead; 
formal action having been taken on the subject, and the infor- 
mation sent overland from Fezzan. He received many private 
letters at the same time, which spoke enthusiastically of the 
project which he had formed before setting out, of crossing 
the whole of the unknown region of equatorial Africa, and 
reaching the southeastern coast. This plan, formed while in 
good health, and before any considerable experience of travel 
among the savages of the tropics had been reached, he now 
saw clearly was not feasible for him ; and turned with a sigh 
of relief to the recommendation contained in the official let- 
ters, that he should endeavor to reach Timbuctoo. 

Finding it impossible to penetrate any farther toward the 
east than the banks of the Shari, Dr. Barth returned to Kuka. 
During his absence. Dr. Overweg had made a trip to the south- 
western part of Bornou, but had returned to the capital about 
two months before Barth did so. Far from showing that the 
considerable period of rest had benefited him physically, how- 
ever, he seemed to the experienced eyes of the elder physician 
" more weak and exhausted than I had ever seen him." From 
the time of Barth's return, indeed ( August 20), until the 
same day of the following month, the descent was constant 
into the valley of the shadow of death ; and on that day he 
died, on the shores of the lake which he had been the first 
white man to explore with any degree of thoroughness. 

Thus left alone. Dr. Barth allowed himself no diminution 
of enthusiasm. The sultan of Bornou was finally persuaded 
to sign the commercial treaty which had before been proposed 



ADVENTURES OF DR. BARTH AND COMPANIONS. 131 

to him; and the explorer made his preparations to depart 
from Kuka. Detained a short time by the fact that the sur- 
rounding country was infested by bands of freebooters and 
insurgents, it was the latter part of November before, with a 
little party of eight servants, he set out for Timbuctoo. 

It is now necessary that we should pass over the space of 
several months, occupied by an uneventful journey westward, 
through a country which he or his predecessors had before 
explored. It was the 19th of June when he first saw the 
Niger, reaching its banks at the point Say, where he remained 
for five days. 

From this point his journey was mainly by land to Saraiya- 
mo, a point on the Niger almost directly south of Timbuctoo. 
While their journey thither, as narrated by the explorer himself, 
is full of interest, the various incidents are in themselves so 
trivial, compared with those of other similar expeditions, that 
we have not room for more than the briefest summing up. 

Finding that many of his difiiculties arose from the fact that 
he was not a Mohammedan, he decided to assume tne char- 
acter of one for a time. * This was not hard to do; for wdiile 
the Arabs of the country were bitterly hostile to those profess- 
ing other religions, they were by no means well informed re- 
garding their own ; nor w^ould their manner of w^orship and 
their various practices have been consided at all orthodox in 
Mecca or Constantinople. The superstition of the pagan peo- 
ples hardly exceeded that of the followers of the Prophet ; 
and on more than one occasion Dr. Barth was taken for a 
"rain-maker," and requested earnestly to exercise his powers 
in behalf of the parched country. Whenever possible, he 
evaded this request, but sometimes he was obliged to offer up 
a prayer. The following extract from this journal may give 
an idea of the character of the people with whom he had to 
deal: 

"After a long conversation about the rainy season, the 
quantity of rain which falls in different countries, and the 
tropical regions especially, I felt myself obliged to say before 
them the " fat-ha," or opening prayer of the Koran; and to 
their great amusement and delight, concluded the Arabic prayer 
with a form in their ow^n language — ^' Alia Jiokkt ndiam''' — 
which, although meaning originally, *' God may give Avater," 
has become quite a complimentary phrase, so that the original 
meaning has been almost lost, few people being conscious of 
it. It so happened that the ensuing night a heavy thunder- 
storm gathered from the east, bringing a considerable quantity 
9 



ADVENTURES OF DR. BARTH AND COMPANIONS. 133 

of rain, which even found its way into my badly thatched hut. 
This apparent efficacy of my prayer induced the inhabitants to 
return the following day, to solicit from me a repetition of 
my performance ; but I succeeded in evading their request by 
exhorting them to patience. But, on the other hand, I was 
obliged, in addition to a strong dose of emetic, to give the 
governor my blessing, as he was going to the capital, and was 
rather afraid of his liege lord the young prince Ahmedu, 
while at the same time his overbearing neighbors, the Tawarek 
[Tuaricks] inspired him with a good deal of fear. In the 
sequel, he was very well received at the capital, and therefore 
could not complain of the'inefficacy of my inspiration; but 
nevertheless, not having had the slightest suspicion that I was 
not what I had represented myself to be, he was much shocked 
when he afterwards learned that I was a Christian, to the 
great amusement of the Sheik el Bakay, who wrote to him 
repeatedly to the effect that he ought to be Avell jDleased that 
so wicked a person as a Christian had procured him not only 
rain, but even a good reception from his superior." 

From Saraiyamo to Kabra there is a water-course, filled 
mainly by back-water from the Niger ; and up this the little par- 
ty journeyed in a boat which they were fortunate enough to se- 
cure for the purpose. The voyage began September 5, 1853. Of 
course the exact dates in this connection are only important 
to the reader as showing the time that had been required for 
the accomplishment of the purpose. It was now almost four 
years since the traveler had left his own country. 

The following day they arrived at Kabara, and set out 
thence to Timbuctoo, of which Kabara is the harbor. It had 
been disclosed to the authorities at the river-town that the 
traveler was a Christian, but they looked more kindly upon 
him because he claimed to be traveling under the protection 
of the great sultan of Stamboul (Constantinople). Unfor- 
tunately, however, he had no direct letter from that sover- 
eign's representatives; one with which he had been provided 
having been previously delivered, and no other having been 
sent in answer to his repeated solicitations. He attributes all 
his troubles in Timbuctoo to the lack of such protection. 

Of these troubles we can scarcely give a detailed descrip- 
tion. For a time, the hostility of the inhabitants kept him a 
close prisoner in his hut, and this threw him into a fcA^er. 
Finally, his presence in the town aroused so much discussion 
among the authorities, that he decided to leave, and took ad- 
A^antage of an expedition led by his friend the Sheik el Bakay 



134 ADVENTURES OF DR, BARTH AND COMPANIONS. 

toward the east to reach once more the country with which he 
was better acquainted. 

For about six weeks, beginning with the middle of March, this 
journey eastward was continued ; but at a very slow rate, some- 
times not more than three miles a day being covered ; and the 
explorer was of course wholly dependent upon the will of his 
escort. Finally, rumors reached them that the French had 
made a successful expedition farther into the interior than 
they had yet penetrated; and the sheik, afraid to venture 
farther, decided to return. There was no choice for Barth in 
the matter; for whatever might be the dangers and difficulties 
attending a residence in Timbuctoo, it was impossible for him, 
alone, to continue the eastward journey. The whole country 
was aroused by fear of the French; and the knowledge that 
Barth was a European caused him to be greatly feared and 
hated by these ignorant barbarians, who were not able to 
distinguish between French, German and English, or between 
a scientific explorer and a military spy. 

The return journey was, as may be supposed, much more 
expeditious than the first; and a welcome surprise awaited 
the traveler at the gates of Timbuctoo : letters from England 
had arrived during his absence, which changed the whole be- 
havior of the people. He at once, escorted again by his friend 
the sheik, retraced his steps eastward, reaching home by the 
same route as that by which he had come, or via Kuka, Mour- 
zouk, and Tripoli. He arrived in London exactly a year from 
the day that he first saw Kabara. 

His own summing up of what was accomplished is of greater 
interest than an}^ outside view; although it may be re- 
marked that his explorations north of the equator have been 
compared, not unfavorably, with those of Dr. Livingstone 
south of the same line. 

"Thus I closed my long and exhausting career as an African 
explorer, of which this narrative endeavors to incorporate the 
result. Having previously gained a good deal of experience of 
African traveling during an extensive journey through Barbary, 
I had embarked on this undertaking as a volunteer, under the 
most unfavorable circumstances for myself. The scale and 
the means of the mission seemed to be extremely limited, and 
it was only in consequence of the success which accompanied 
our proceedings that a wider extent was given to the range 
and objects of the expedition; and after its original leader had 
succumbed in his arduous task, instead of giving way to des- 
pair, I had continued in my career amid great embarrassment, 



ADVENTURES OF DR. BARTH AND COMPANIONS. 135 

carrying on the exploration of extensive regions almost Avith- 
out any means. * * * * In this enterprise [of reaching 
Timbuctoo] I succeeded to my utmost expectation, and not 
only made known the whole of that vast region, which even 
to the Arab merchants in general had remained more unknown 
than any other part of Africa, but I succeeded also in estab- 
lishing friendly relations with all the most powerful chiefs 
along the river up to that mysterious city itself. * * * * 
No doubt, even in the track which I myself pursued, I have 
left a good deal for my successors in this career to improve 
upon ; but I have the satisfaction to feel that I have opened 
to the view of the scientific public of Europe a most extensive 
tract of the secluded African w^orld, and not only made it 
tolerably known, but rendered the opening of a regular inter- 
course between Europe and those regions possible." 



CHAPTER YII. 



EARLY EXPLOBATIOJfS IJV SOUTH AFRICA; 
oi.YDERSSO^" A.YD MAGYAR. 

T is our intention to pass by, for the present, the first 
journeys of Dr. Livingstone; although it is necessary to 
sum them up briefly, that the reader may have a conception 
of the condition of the world's knowledge of South Africa 
at the time of which we are now writing. Livingtone's- earliest 
journeys were made from his missionary station of Kolobeng as 
a center; the longest and most memorable of them resulted in 
the discovery of Lake Ngami. His journey across the conti- 
nent, which was undertaken after he left Kolobeng as a mis- 
sionary field, extended from Cape Town to St. Paul deLoanda, 
and thence diagonally across the continent to the mouth of the 
Zambesi. Having fixed the extent of his previous explorations, 
we are ready to take up the adventures of Andersson and 
Magyar, who followed this part of his work by theirs, which, 
however, ended long before his efforts were over. 

Carl Johann Andersson, a Swede, and Francis Galton, an En- 
glishman, met in London in 1850, and agreed to explore joint- 
ly the unknown country north of Cape Colony, and to pene- 
trate from the direct south to Lake Ngami. A glance at the 
map will show that Livingstone's journey to this lake had been 
from a point to the southeast of it. 

This was their plan as originally formed ; but they found 
when they arrived at Cape Town that the Boers had threaten- 
ed to kill any person who should attempt to pass through 
their territories. It was therefore necessary to modify their 
plans; and they sailed for Walfisch Bay, on the western coast; 
whence they intended to reach the lake by an eastward journey 
overland. 

Missionary stations had been established at various points, aiid 

136 



ANDERSSON AND MAGYAR IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



137 



it was toward one of these, Barmen, in the country of the Da- 
maras, that the adventurers turned their course. But mission- 
work among this people had not had the effects which are usu- 
ally expected ; they could not comprehend the assertion that 




Carl Johann Andersson. 
men were willing to leave their own country and brave hard- 
ship and danger, unless from self-interest, When the mission- 
aries first came, the natives suspected them of an attempt to 
plunder; and withdrew with their herds into more inaccessible 
regions. Finding tjiat they were not pursued, they resolved to 
exterminate the new-comers ; but one of their own chiefs re- 



138 ANDERSSON AND MAGYAR IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

monstrated against this plan, and finally, the Damaras became 
a little more friendly, and some of the poorer members of the 
tribe actually settled in the neighborhood of the missions. 
This was the attitude of the people when Andersson and Galton 
came into their midst. 

At Barmen, they heard from some of these hangers-on of 
the mission that there was a large fresh-water lake, Oman- 
bonde, lying to the southw^ard. Here was their opportunity 
for distinguishing themselves, and they set off to explore it ; 
only to return crest-fallen from the region of a dried-up marsh 
and a patch of reeds. There were indications that there was 
a lake in that locality during the wet season ; but they had 
looked for another Ngami. 

Hearing that the Damaras carried on a flourishing trade 
with a pe#ple of agricultural habits living north of them, the 
travelers determined to penetrate into this country ; since the 
commerce existing showed that it must be passable. The 
country was full of fine game, and they began to congratulate 
themselves upon their good fortune, when an unexpected diffi- 
culty befell them: the axle of their wagon broke, and they 
were unable to repair the damage. Abandoning it, they took 
to their pack and saddle oxen; but no guides could be found, 
and they lost their way. From this difficulty they Avere rescued 
by a caravan which was returning from Damara-land toward 
the very country whither they were ,now going, that of the 
Ovambos. 

They found Ondango, the country of this tribe, such an 
Elysium as their dreams had pictured. '' Instead of the eter- 
nal jungles, where every moment we were in danger of being 
dragged out of our saddles by the merciless thorns, the land- 
scape now presented an apparently boundless field of yellow 
corn, dotted with numerous peaceful homesteads, and bathed 
in the soft light of a declining tropical sun. Here and there 
rose gigantic, wide-spreading, and dark-foliaged timber and 
fruit-trees, while innumerable fan-like palms, either singly or 
in groups, completed the picture." 

They found no such things as towns or villages; each family 
had its separate homestead, surrounded by high, stout pali- 
sades, outside of which lay the fields in which the family raised 
its supplies of Kaffir corn, calabashes, watermelons, pump- 
kins, peas, beans, send tobacco. Here, too, were the pastures 
for their herds of cattle, sheep and goats, Avhile their dogs and 
fowls found a home within the palisade. 

After a journev of four davs from the frontier of this coun- 



AKBERSSON AND JUAGYAR IIT SOUTH AI^RICA. 139 

try, the travelers reached the residence of the chief, Nangoro ; 
and after a delay of three days they were permitted to behold 
him. Enormously fat, his state of almost perfect nudity show- 
ed him off to the best possible advantage. 

Nangoro had seen muskets before, as had some of his prin- 
cipal men; but that he had not a very intimate acquaintance 
with fire-arms may be inferred from his belief that their efiica- 
cy could be destroyed by blowing into the barrel. His faith in 
this theory was shaken, however, by demonstration of its 
falsity; although his followers still fell flat on their faces 
every time that a gun was discharged in their hearing, and re- 
mained so for some little time. 

The Ovambos form a marked contrast to some other Afri- 
can tribes in being strictly honest; without permission, the na- 
tives would not touch anything; and the travelers could leave 
their camp entirely unwatched. Nor are they idle ; work be- 
gins at sunrise and ends at sunset for all. There is no pauper- 
ism among them, and the aged and helpless are carefully tend- 
ed; in marked contrast to the Damaras, who have a pleasant 
little way of knocking their old people on the head or carry- 
ing them away into the desert to starve. 

But although exempt from some of the vices of their neigh- 
bors, the Ovambos are not altogether paragons. Polygamy is 
practiced to a great extent, each man having as many Avives as 
he can afford to buy. It is interesting to note the quotations 
in this article of merchandise : a poor man could purchase a 
wife for two oxen and one cow; a rich man would be required 
to pay three oxen and two cows. We are not told^ whether the 
difference in price was occasioned solely by the difference in 
the circumstances of the purchaser, or whether the rich man 
paid for first choice. The king alone was not required to buy 
his wives ; and one hundred and six families had considered 
the honor of the alliance sufficient value received for their 
daughters. 

The travelers were anxious to reach the Cunene Eiver, the 
mouth of which had been discovered by previous exploration 
and which they suspected was identical with a great river, 
flowing westward, which the natives told them lay about 
eight days' journey to the northward; but Nangoro, in- 
censed at their refusal to shoot elephants for him, declared 
that since they would do nothing for him, he would do 
nothing for them; and refused to furnish guides, or even 
to permit them to attempt the journey through his terri- 
tory. Nothing could be done, then, but to return to Barmen ; and 



ANDERSSON AJJD MAGYAR IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



I4i 



there they arrived early in August, 1851; having remained 
about eight months in the interior. 

Once in two years, a missionary vessel brought stores to 
Walfisch Bay; but since this was not expected till December, 
they must occupy the time between as best they might. Vari- 
ous trips were undertaken, the longest of which was another 
attempt to reach lake Ngami. Setting out a week after their 
return from Ovambo-land, they suffered terribly from the 
heat and drought; and finally returned without having accom- 
plished their object, the natives assuring them that the country 
beyond them was impassable. 




Spring-Gun Trap for Wild Animals. 

They spent some time at a missionary station and settlement 
called Schmelen's Hope. Here the hyenas, called wolves by 
the colonists, were very numerous and audacious, frequently 
invading the sheep kraals during the dark drizzling nights, 
and making sad havoc. The colonists and the travelers gave 
chase to several, but found their efforts eluded by the cunning 
beasts, which escaped unharmed. Finally, by the aid of spring- 
guns, several were killed; and their kindred took the hint 
and stayed away. 

A description of the trap will not be out of place. Two 



142 ANDERSSOK^ AXD MAGYAR IK^ SOUTH AFRICA. 

young trees were selected and divested of their lower branch- 
es ; or, where these were lacking, two stout po^ts were set in 
the ground. Across these the gun was lashed in a nearly hori- 
zontal position, the muzzle pointing slightly upward. A piece 
of wood, six inches long, was tied to the side of the gun-stock 
in such a way as to permit it to move slightly backward and 
forward. A string connected the lower end of this lever 
with the trigger, while to the upper end a longer cord was 
fixed, which, passing through the empty ramrod tube, had a 
lump of flesh at the end; this flesh was further secured by be- 
ing stuck on the muzzle of the gun. 

A fence of thorny bushes was carefully made around the 
spot, with but one narrow opening left, this being directly 
opposite the muzzle of the gun. A "drag" of tainted flesh or 
other offal was then arranged, leading from various quarters ; 
and the colonists retired from the scene. It was next to im- 
possible for the hyena to get the meat off the muzzle of the 
gun without blowing its brains out; and none escaped the 
fate. 

Galton returned to England by the missionary vessel ; but 
Andersson was not yet ready to give it up. Early in 1853, well 
provided with gifts for the various chiefs, he again arrived at 
Walfisch Bay. It was nearly the middle of the year when he 
reached Tunobis ; from this point numerous difficulties beset 
him ; but finally he found a road which was not entirely desti- 
tute of water. One of his adventures at a fountain where they 
halted for a night deserves to be here recorded; and who can 
tell the story as well as Andersson himself? 

" Hearing that elephants and rhinoceroses still continued to 
resort to Abeghan, I forthwith proceeded there on the night in 
question. Somewhat incautiously I took up my position — 
alone, as usual — on a narrow neck of land dividing, two small 
pools, the space on either side of my skarm [a shallow pit 
with a barrier of stones in front] being only sufficient for a 
large animal to stand between me and the water. I was pro- 
vided with a blanket and two or three spare guns. 

" It was one of those magnificent tropical moonlight nights 
when an indescribable soft and enchanting light is shed over 
the slumbering landscape ; the moon was so bright and clear that 
I could discern even a small animal at a considerable distance. 
I had just completed my arrangements, when a noise that I can 
liken only to the passage of a train of artillery broke the still- 
ness of the air; it evidently came from the direction of one of 
the numerous stony paths, or rather tracks, leading to the wa- 



ANDERSSON AND MAGYAR IN SOUTH ATRICA. 143 

ter, and I imagined that it was caused by some wagons that might 
have crossed the Kalahari. Raising myself partially from my 
recumbent position, I fixed my eyes steadily on the part of the 
bush whence the strange sounds proceeded, but for some time 
I was unable to make out the cause. All at once, how^ever, the 
mystery Avas explained by the appearance of an immense ele- 
phant, immediately followed by others, amounting to eighteen. 
Their towering forms told me at a glance that they were all 
males. It was a splendid sight to see so many huge creatures 
approaching with a free, sweeping, unsuspecting and stately 
step. The somewhat elevated ground whence they emerged, 
and which gradually sloped toward the water, together with 
the misty night air, gave an increased appearance of bulk and 
mightiness to their naturally giant structures. 

" Crouching down as low as possible in the skarm, I w^aited 
with a beating heart and ready rifle the approach of the lead- 
ing male, who, unconscious of peril, was making straight for 
my hiding-place. The position of his body, however, was 
unfavorable for a shot ; and knowing from experience that I 
had little chance of obtaining more than a single good one, I 
waited for an opportunity to fire at his shoulder, which is 
preferable to any other part when shooting at night. But this 
chance, unfortunately, was not afforded till his enormous bulk 
towered above my head. The consequence was, that while in 
the act of raising the muzzle of my rifle over the skarm, my 
body caught his eye, and, before I could place the piece to 
my shoulder, he swung himself round, and, with trunk ele- 
vated and ears spread, desperately charged me. It was now 
too late to think of flight, much less of slaying the savage 
beast. My own life was in imminent jeopardy; and seeing 
that if I remained partially erect, he w^ould inevitably seize 
me with his proboscis, I threw myself back with some vio- 
lence, in w^hich position, and without shouldering the rifle, I 
fired upward at random toward his chest, uttering at the same 
time the most piercing shouts and cries. The change of posi- 
tion, in all human probability, saved my life; for at the same 
instant the trunk of the enraged animal descended precisely 
on the spot where I had been previously crouched, sw^eeping 
away the stones, many of them of a large size, that formed 
the forepart of my skarm, like so many pebbles. In another 
moment his broad fore feet passed directly over my face. 
, I now expected nothing short of being crushed to death. 
But imagine my relief when, instead of renewing the charge 
he sw^erved to the left, and moved off with considerable rapid- 



ANDERSSON AND MAGYAR IN SOUTH AFRICA. 145 

ity, most happily without my having received any other inju- 
ries than a few bruises, occasioned by the falling of the stones. 
Immediately after the elephant had left me I was on my legs, 
and snatching up a spare rifle lying at hand, I pointed at him 
as he was retreating, and pulled the trigger ; but to my intense 
mortification the piece missed fire. It was a matter of thank- 
fulness to me, however, that a similar mishap had not occurred 
when the animal charged ; for had my gun not then exploded, 
nothing, as I conceive, could have saved me from destruction. 

"While pondering over my late wonderful escape, I 
observed, at a little distance, a huge white rhinoceros protrude 
his ponderous and misshapen head through the bushes, and 
presently afterward he approached to within a dozen paces 
of my ambuscade. His broadside was then fully exposed to 
view, and notwithstanding I still felt a little nervous from my 
conflict with the elephant, I lost no time in firing. The beast 
did not at once fall to the ground, but from appearances I had 
every reason to believe that he would not live very long. 
Scarcely had I reloaded when a black rhinoceros of the species 
Keitlea (a female, as it proved), stood drinking at the water; 
but her position, as with the elephant in the first instance, 
was unfavorable for a good shot. As, however, she was very 
near me, I thought I was pretty sure of breaking her leg and 
thereby disabling her, and in this I succeeded. My fire seemed 
to madden her; she rushed Avildly forward on three legs, when 
I gave a second shot, though apparently with little or no effect. 
I felt sorry at not being able to end her sufferings at once; but 
as I was too well acquainted with the habits of rhinoceroses 
to venture on pursuing her under the circumstances, I deter- 
mined to wait patiently for daylight, and then destroy her with 
the aid of my dogs. But it was not to be. 

"As no more elephants or other large game appeared, I 
thought, after a time, it might be as well to go in search of the 
Avhite rhinoceros previously wounded ; I was not long in find- 
ing his carcass; for my ball, as I supposed, had caused his 
almost immediate death. 

" In heading back to my skarm, I accidentally took a turn in 
the direction pursued by the black rhinoceros, and by ill-luck, 
as the event proved, at once encountered her. She was still 
on her legs, but her position, as before, was unfavorable. 
Hoping, however, to make her change it for a better, and thus 
enable me to destroy her at once, I took up a stone, and hurled 
it at her with all my force; when, snorting horribly, erecting 
her tail, keeping her head close to the ground, and raising 



146 



ANDERSSOX AND MAGYAR IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



clouds of dust by her feet, she rushed at me with fearful 
fury. I had only just time to level my rifle and fire before 
she was upon me; and the next instant, while instinctively 
turning round for the purpose of retreating, she laid me pros- 
trate. The shock was so violent as to send my rifle, powder- 
flask, and a ball-pouch, as also my cap, spinning in the air; 
the gun, indeed, as ascertained, to a distance of fully ten feet. 
(3n the beast charging me, it crossed my mind that, unless 
gored at once by her horn, her impetus would be such (after 
knocking me down, which I took for granted would be the 




An Assortment of Rhinoceros Heads. 

case) as to carry her beyond me, and I might thus be afforded 
a chance of escape. So, indeed, it happened; for having 
tumbled me over (in doing which her head and the forepart 
of her body, owing to the violence of the charge, was haK 
buried in the sand), and trampled on me with great violence, 
her forequarter passed over my body. Struggling for life, I 
seized my opportunity, and as she was recovering herself for a 
renewal of the charge, I scrambled out from between her hind 
legs. 

" But the enraged beast had not yet done with me. Scarcely 
had I regained my feet before she struck me down a second 



ANDERSSOX AXD MAGYAR IX SOUTH AFRICA. 147 

time, and with her horn ripped up my right thigh (though not 
very deeply) from near the knee to the hip; with her forefeet, 
moreover, she hit me a terrific blow on the left shoulder, near 
the back of the neck. My ribs bent under the enormous 
Aveight and pressure, and for a moment I must, as I believe, 
have lost consciousness — I have, at least, very indistinct 
notions of what afterward took place. All I remember is, 
that when I raised my head I heard a furious snorting and 
23lunging among the neighboring bushes. I now arose, though 
with great difificulty, and made my way, in the best manner I 
Avas able, toAvard a large tree near at hand for shelter; but 
this precaution was needless; the beast, for the time at least, 
shoAved no inclination further to molest me. Either in the melee, 
or OAving to the confusion caused by her wounds, she had lost 
sight of me, or she felt satisfied AAnth the rcA^enge she had 
taken. Be that as it may, I escaped AA^ith life, though sadly 
Avounded and sev erely bruised, in which disabled state I had 
great difiiculty in getting back to my skarm." 

Andersson had sent one of his men, escorted by bushmen, 
to make knoAA^n his approach to the nati\^es living on the 
shores of the lake. This messenger shortly afterAvard return- 
ed, accompanied by tAA^o guides, belonging to the Betoana 
tribe; and the party proceeded through the almost impene- 
trable thorn-forest. On the third day after leaving the foun- 
tain which had been the scene of the adA^enture with the 
elephant and the rhinoceros, about noon, the cry of " Ngami ! 
Ngami! " AA'as raised by the men at the head of the caraA^an; 
and the explorer, looking before him, saAv, glimmering in 
the sunshine, a sheet of water bounded only by the horizon. 

The lake was at that season at its loAvest stage, and was very 
shallow at the point where it was first seen. Its banks Avere 
overgroAvn with a multitude of reeds and rushes, so that, after 
the first excitement of catching a glimpse of it Avas once over, 
it was far from seeming an object of much admiration. The 
muddy stretches Avdience the AA'ater had receded prevented their 
approaching A^ery nearly to the lake itself; and the water, a 
little of Avhich Avas obtained by considerable exertion, AA^as 
very bitter and disagreeable. 

A journey of tAvo days along the shore of the lake brought 
Andersson to the residence of the chief, Lecholetebe. This 
gentleman divided his time betAveen soliciting presents and re- 
fusing to furnish information ; so that Avhen Andersson ex- 
pressed a desire to push on toAA^ard Libebe, a place consider- 
ably north of the lake, and the chief promised to furnish him 
XO 



148 ANDERSSON AND MAGYAR IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

with men and canoes, the white man was most agreeably sur- 
prised. 

They were first to ascend the Teoge River ; the crafts fur- 
nished by the chief were two clumsy canoes, consisting of logs 
of wood, each about twenty feet long, pointed at both ends 
and hollowed out by fire. Had the logs been straight, the 
task of the boatmen would perhaps have been easier; as it 
was, they found such difficulty in guiding their rude vessels, 
and hugged the shore so closely, that they were three days in 
reaching the mouth Of the river from the residence of the 
chief. For the first few days of the ascent, the country pre- 
sented a very dreary appearance; sometimes being under 
water for several miles around ; but as they progressed, the 
vegetation became profuse and varied ; while animals, of all 
the species known to this part of the world, abounded. After 
twelve days' journey, they reached a village where, Lecho- 
letebe had told him, he could obtain other men and boats for 
the prosecution of his journey. What the savage had not told 
him, was that every man in the town had gone upon a hippo- 
potamus hunt, from which they would not return in less than 
a month. Lecholetebe thus secured presents for the use of 
his men and canoes in going and returning; since Andersson 
was entirely helpless. 

After a month's absence, he returned to the shores of Lake 
Ngami, the one important result of this journey being the 
ascertaining of the fact that the lake received its principal 
supplies from the northwest. Andersson was now resolved to 
return home ; but he had accumulated so many specimens of 
natural history, curiosities, ivories, and so forth, that a wagon 
was absolutely necessary to transport his effects. He accord- 
ingly set out for Namaqualand in order to procure one. 

"During the four months that elapsed before he again 
reached Lake Ngami, he traveled, either alone or accompanied 
by a single native, sometimes on foot and at others on horse- 
back or oxback, over more than a thousand miles of country, 
parts of it emulating the Sahara in scarcity of water and gen- 
eral inhospitality. Besides narrow escapes from lions and 
other dangerous beasts, he was occasionally as much as two 
days without tasting food ; and it frequently happened that in 
the course of twenty-four hours he could only once or twice 
moisten his parched lips." 

Thus it is that a brilliant journalist sums up the difficulties of 
the journey which he had undertaken, and which, with the 
return, was successfully accomplished. In the spring of 



AJSDERSSON^ AND MAGYAR IN SOUTH ATKICA. 149 

1854, he sailed from Cape Town to Europe, where he en- 
joyed comparative inaction for nearly four years. In 1858, 
Andersson again went to Africa, to explore the country near 
that with which he had become familiar. His object on 
this expedition was to explore the Cunene River; but he 
found, instead, a stream six hundred feet wide, the course 
of which was unmistakably eastward. This river, called the 
Okawango by the natives, and previous to Andersson's time 
having been known to the Portuguese as the Ouando, the 
discoverer believed to be a tributary of the Zambesi, then 
recently explored by Livingtone; he was preparing to dem- 
onstrate his belief by an expedition following the course of 
the stream, when he and five or six others of his party were 
prostrated by fever, and the project had to be given up. 

Reaching the settlements after a journey which fires on the 
plains of grass made doubly perilous, Andersson returned to 
Europe and published the result of his journey. Afterward, 
he again went back to Africa, married a lady of Cape Town, 
and settled down as a farmer near Ondongo. His property 
suffered severely during the war between the Damarasaudthe 
Namaquas, and he was himself so severely wounded that he 
was obliged to go to the Cape for treatment. He had barely 
recovered when in May, 1866, he set out on an expedition to 
the Cunene, which had for its aim the establishment of a com- 
mercial treaty w^ith the Portuguese settlers ; he actually came 
in sight of the river of which he had dreamed for so long; but 
his failing strength forbade a further journey; and retracing 
his steps, he died before home was reached. 

Between the most northern points reached by Andersson, 
and the 1856 route of Livingstone, westward from the mouth 
of the Zambesi, there lies a considerable tract of country 
which would have been, but for the explorations of Ladislaus 
Magyar, a terra incognita. A Hungarian by birth, he had 
served in the Austrian navy, in that of the Argentine Confed- 
eration, and as commander of the fleet of the negro ruler of 
old Calabar, before he went to South Africa, broken doAvn in 
health by the coast-fever. 

His starting-point was the most southern Portuguese settle- 
ment on the western coast, St. Philip de Benguela ; his first 
objective point was the kingdom of Bihe, situated on the 
table-lands of the interior, in a section watered by the tribu- 
taries of the Coanza River. He was fortunate enough to 
secure the guidance and protection of a caravan which was 
going thither; and the members of this caravan esteemed 




JJXORCISING AN EVIL SPIRIT, 



ANDERSSON AND MAGYAR IN SOUTH AFRICA. 151 

themselves fortunate to secure the presence of a white man, 
considering him a protection to them. 

He met with great honor on account of his color; and was 
invited to make use of as much land as he should choose, and 
to build himself a house. Selecting a site which had not been 
appropriated by any one else, and which recommended itself 
to him by its beauty, he was gravely informed that a notorious 
wizard had been executed on the spot a year before, that ever 
since evil sj^irits had haunted the place, and that consequently 
he must select another place. Magyar begged one of their 
exorcising priests to drive away the evil spirits, and enforced 
his request with a fat hog and several yards of cotton cloth. 
The priest slaughtered a goat, marked several cabalistic figures 
with its blood upon Magyar's body, and having blown three 
blasts through a gazelle-horn, declared that the evil spirits had 
for ever been banished from the beautiful valley. 

On another occasion, shortly after this, Magyar took advan- 
tage of the superstition of the natives. The king had con- 
fided to him that he meant to undertake an expedition 
against a neighboring tribe, and invited the white man to 
accompany him. It was dangerous to refuse, and the Hun- 
garian accordingly accepted, hoping that he would find some 
loop-hole of escape before the time came round. As it drew 
near, and there seemed to be no such opportunity, Magyar 
complained of bad dreams and great bodily pains. The 
priests decided that evil spirits were tormenting him. Then 
the stranger confessed that this expedition was against the 
laws in his country, and they were probably punishing him for 
having promised to go. The news was carried to the king, 
who not only released Magyar from his promise, but after the 
evil spirit had been duly exorcised and banished, sent the white 
man his daughter as a wife. 

It may be supposed that the explorer was now in no less 
dilemma than at first ; but recognizing that it was impossible 
to refuse the honor, and being a bachelor, he married the 
dusky princess, who made him a very good wife. 

For a while, he settled down to the cultivation of his fields, 
and to observation of the habits of the people; but in the 
^ring of 1850, having resolved to penetrate still farther into 
the interior, he got together a large caravan for a journey to 
the Molumwa country, the chief object being to obtain a sup- 
ply of ivory. 

In the course of this journey, he came upon a peculiar race 
of dwarfs, Avhom he thus describes: 



152 



AKDERSSON AKB MAGYAR IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



** They are not more than four feet in height, of a rusty yel- 
low color, and with features which seem a caricature of the 
human face. Their legs are very thin; the round, protruding 
abdomp^ fuiroc up one-third of the body; the lean neck sup- 




Akkas, a Divorf Tribe of Cevfral Africa. 



ports a large head, with a perfectly flat face, .in which wide 
mouth and nostrils and small twinkling eyes are inserted. 
Their ears are like flaps, and their hair is very short and 
woolly." If handsome is as handsome does, we must not sup- 
pose these poor creatures to be ugly, since Magyar bears testi- 



ANDERSSON AND MAGYAR IN SOUTH AFRICA. 153 

mony to their j)eacefulness, honesty, and faithfulness in ser- 
vice. 

Magyar resided for more than a year among the Molumwas, 
whom he describes as possessed of more intelligence than any 
other native African tribe. Notwithstanding their intelli- 
gence, however, the grossest forms of superstition are still 
held among them, and even human sacrifices are offered upon 
certain occasions. 

Returning to Bihe, Magyar made several expeditions from 
that kingdom as a starting-point, claiming to have reached the 
upper part of the Zambesi in one, and the Cunene in another; 
but the fact that he was unable to determine the latitude and 
longitude of the places which he visited, and that his geograph- 
ical notes are extremely brief and unsatisfactory, renders his 
experiences of far less value than they would otherwise be. If 
to his energy and- courage had been united the knowledge and 
technical skill of the scientist, many important geographical 
problems might have been solved. 



CHAPTER VIII. 




DU CHAILLU AJfD TEE GORILLA COUJfTBY, 

E now turn our attention to the exploration of that 

portion of equatorial Africa which lies west of the 

Congo, and follow Du Chaillu in his travels about the 

Ogawai river, which empties into the Atlantic at a 

point about one degree south of the equator. 

The boundaries of the territory thus explored may be 
roughly described as the second parallel of latitude, north 
and south, and a line drawn three hundred miles from the 
coast. WitHin these limits Du Chaillu traveled nearly eight 
thousand miles on foot ; and his contributions to our knowl- 
edge of the animal life and vegetation of equatorial Africa 
have never been surpassed by any explorer. The results of 
his journeys are indeed rather ethnographical, zoological and 
botanical than strictly geographical. 

A French settlement had been established at the mouth of 
the Gaboon River in the 3'ear 1842; and following this, sev- 
eral missionary stations had been planted inland by the Ameri- 
can Board of Foreign Missions. At one of these latter places, 
the head station, a point eight miles from the mouth of the 
river, Du Chaillu arrived from the city of his adoption, New 
York, in December, 1855. He remained there until April of 
the following year, in order that he might become acclimated, 
and to prepare for his journey inland in various waj's. 

Here he had ample opportunity of studj'ing the habits of 
the Mpongwe tribe, whose territory lies about the mouth of 
the Gaboon. Their position, under the rules of African com- 
merce, enables them to accumulate considerable wealth in the 
shape of "the white man's goods," and they had many singu- 
lar adaptations of white men's customs and manners; while 
in some particulars their ovv-n ways remained wholly un- 
changed. 

154 



BU CHAILLU AND THE GO&ILLA COUNTRY. 155 

The laws of commerce to which allusion has been made are 
well understood and strictly regulated. The most important 
is, that the tribes along the coast alone have the right of trad- 
ing with the white men; should a daring merchant from the in- 
terior attempt to exchange his goods directly with the Euro- 
peans, he would be liable to be sold into slavery, if not put to 
death at once. He must intrust his goods to some merchant 
of the nearest tribe, by whom they are passed onward until 
they reach the coast-tribe, by whom they are bartered to the 
whites. Of course, the middlemen, here as elsewhere, reap 
no small share of the profits. 

While resident at this missionary station, or in its vicinity, 
Du Chaillu had the opportunity of witnessing the Mpongwe 
ceremonies on the choice of a new king; ceremonies so unique 
and at the same time suggestive that we here reproduce a por- 
tion of his account: 

*'I do not know that Njogoni [the newly elected king] had 
the slightest suspicion of his elevation. At any rate he 
shammed ignorance very well. As he was walking on the 
shore on the morning of the seventh day, he was suddenly set 
upon by the entire populace, who proceeded to a ceremony 
which is preliminary to the crowning, and which must deter 
any but the most ambitious men from aspiring to the crown. 
They surrounded him in a dense crowd, and then began to 
heap upon him every manner of abuse that the worst of mobs 
could imagine. Some spit in his face; some beat him with 
their fists; some kicked him; others threw disgusting objects 
at him; while those unlucky ones who stood on the outside, 
and could reach the poor fellow only with their voices, assidu- 
ously cursed him, his father, his mother, his sisters and broth- 
ers, and all his ancestors to the remotest generation. A 
stranger would not have given a cent for the life of him who 
was presently to be crowned. Amid all the noise and strug- 
gle, I caught the words which explained all to me; for every 
few minutes some fellow, administering an especially severe 
blow or kick, would shout out: 

'**You are not our king yet; for a little while we will do 
what we please with you. By and by we shall have to do your 
will.' 

'* Njogoni bore himself like a man and a prospective king. 
He kept his temper, and took all the abuse with a smiling 
face. When it had lasted about half an hour, they took him 
to the house of the old king. Here he was seated, and became 
again for a little while the victim of his people's curses. Then 



156 t>U CSAlLLtt AKD Tiffi GORILLA COUNTRY. 

all became silent ; and the elders of the people rose and said 
solemnly, the people repeating after them : 

" ' Now we choose you for our king; we engage to listen to 
you and to obey you.' 

"A silence followed, and presently the silk hat, which is the 
emblem of Mpongwe royalty, was brought in and placed on 
Njogoni's head. He was then dressed in a red gown, and re- 
ceived the greatest marks of respect from all who had just 
now abused him. Now followed a six days' festival. * * *" 

From this account it appears that while in the United States 
the abuse precedes the election of an official, in the country 
of the Mpongwe only the successful candidate is subjected to 
it, and it is in the nature of corporal punishment as well as 
tongue-lashings. 

Du Chaillu left the missionary station late in April, 1856, 
and proceeding about sixty miles down the coast, turned inland 
for about the same distance; then returned to the Gaboon. 
The geographical results of this journey, which occupied some 
three months, were not important. His journey lay chiefly in 
the territory of the Skeiani tribe, a people akin to the Mpon- 
wes. He describes them as subject to the most degrading 
superstitions, as incapable of appreciating that courage which 
teaches men to face their enemies openly, as treating their 
women very harshly, as treacherous in war and dishonest in 
trading. They excel as hunters, being lithe, active and cun- 
ning; their life is largely nomadic, although they have vil- 
lages; for once convinced that the site of a village is be- 
witched, they can not be induced to remain in that neighbor- 
hood. 

Bearing with him specimens of new birds and animals which 
he had killed, the hunter returned to the Gaboon, whence, in 
a few days, he set out upon a second" expedition. 

This second journey was begun with the intention of explor- 
ing the Muni to its head-waters, and of visiting the Sierra del 
Crystal. It was believed that the Congo flowed northward 
back of this range of mountains, and Du Chaillu was anxious 
to ascertain if it were true. It was necessary to obtain the 
assistance of the chief Dayoko before the Muni could be 
ascended ; and when this prince was once convinced that the 
white man did not intend to interfere with his rights by trad- 
ing with the tribes in the interior, this assistance was readily 
granted. 

During their passage of these mountains, Du Chaillu saw, 
for the first time, the Ntambounay Falls, which he describes as 



DU CHATLLtr Am> THE GORILLA COUNTRY. 15? 

one of the grandest sights he ever beheld, *' an immense 
mountain torrent, dashing down hill at an angle of twenty-five 
or thirty degrees, for not less than a mile before us, like a 
vast seething, billowy sea. The river course was full of the 
huge granite boulders which lie about here as though the 
Titans had been playing at skittles in this country ; and against 
these the angry waters dashed as though they would carry all 
before them; and, breaking up, threw the milky spray up to 
the very tops of the trees which grew along the edge." 

Ascending a little farther, Du Chaillu shot an immense ser- 
pent. Very much to his disgust, his dusky companions pro- 
ceeded at once to cut it up, roast and eat it. But he scarcely 
had time to protest before the cry was raised that gorilla 
tracks had been found. These were so fresh that they de- 
termined to chase the animal without farther delay; but al- 
though they caught sight of the game more than once, it finally 
eluded them, and escaped into the depths of the forest. 

This was the first time that Du Chaillu had seen a gorilla at 
such close quarters ; and he says that he felt like a murderer 
in pursuing this animal with the intention of killing it. Nor 
was he the only one of the party who felt that this was some- 
thing more than a mere brute. The negroes of this region 
believe that certain gorillas are endowed with the spirits of 
departed negroes. In these, the intelligence of the man is 
united to the cunning instinct of the brute, and, joined to its 
activity and immense strength, enables such animals to evade 
pursuit and defy the hunters forever. Such a one, they told 
Du Chaillu, was this gorilla which had escaped them. 

After three or four days' unintermittiug travel, the advent- 
urer reached the first village of the Fan tribe, distant one 
hundred and fifty miles, as the crow flies, from the coast. 
These people had never before seen a white man, or one with 
straight hair; and they fled in terror from the presence of the 
"white spirit." Re-assured as to his intentions, they were at 
length induced to return ; and then they flocked about him in 
crowds. One most wonderful thing about the stranger, and 
something which they could not explain, was the fact that 
while his face was white, and his hands white and shaped like 
theirs, his feet were black and had no toes; for they assumed 
that his boots were his feet. 

Although their first gorilla hunt proved unsuccessful, it is 
worth while to transcribe the description of a second, as show- 
ing the danger of pursuing the animal : 

*' Presently I noticed, ahead of us, seemingly, a noise as of 



r>U CHAILLU AND THE GORILLA COUNTRY. 159 

some one breaking down branches or twigs of trees. This was 
the gorilla, I knew at once, by the eager and satisfied looks of 
the men. They looked once more carefully to their guns, to 
see if by any chance the powder had fallen out of the pans ; 
I also examined mine, to make sure that all was right; and 
then we marched on cautiously. 

' ' The singular noise of the breaking of tree-branches con- 
tinued. We walked with the greatest care, making no noise 
at all. The countenances of the men showed that they 
thought themselves engaged in a very serious undertaking; 
but we pushed on, until finally we saw through the thick 
woods the moving of the branches and small trees which the 
great beast was tearing down, probably to get from them the 
berries and fruits he lives on. 

"Suddenly, as we were yet creeping along, in a silence 
w^hich made a heavy breath seem loud and distinct, the woods 
were filled with the heavy barking roar of the gorilla. Then 
the underbrush swayed rapidly just ahead, and presently be- 
fore us stood an immense male gorilla. He had gone through 
the jungle on his all-fours; but when he saw our party he 
erected himself and looked us boldly in the face. He stood 
about a dozen yards from us, and was a sight I think never to 
forget. Nearly six feet high (he proved two inches shorter) 
with immense body, huge chest, and great muscular arms, with 
fiercely glaring large deep-gray eyes, and a hellish expression 
of face, w^hich seemed to me like some nightmare vision : thus 
stood before us this king of the African forests. 

" He was not afraid of us. He stood there, and beat his breast 
with his huge fists until it resounded tike an immense bass- 
drum, which is their mode of offering defiance; meantime 
giving vent to roar after roar. The roar of the gorilla is the 
most singular and awful noise heard in these African woods. 
It begins with a sharp bark, like an angry dog, then glides into 
a deep bass roll, which literally and closely resembles the rum- 
ble of distant thunder along the sky, for which I have some- 
times been tempted to take it when I did not see the animal. 
So deep is it that it seems to proceed less from the mouth 
and throat than from the deep chest and vast paunch. 

" His eyes began to flash fiercer fire as we stood motionless 
on the defensive, and the crest of short hair which stands on 
his forehead began to twitch rapidly up and down, while his 
powerful fangs were shown as he again sent forth a thunder- 
ous roar. And now truly he reminded me of nothing but some 
hellish dream creature — a being of that hideous order, half 



DU CHAILLU AND THE GORILLA COUNTRY. 161 

man, half beast, which we find pictured by old artists in some 
representations of the infernal regions. He advanced a few 
steps — then stopped to utter the hideous roar again — advanced 
again, and finally stopped when at a distance of about six 
yards from us. And here, as he began another of his roars 
and beating his breast in rage, we fired, and killed him. 

"With a groan which had something terribly human in it, 
and yet was full of brutishness, it fell forward on its face. 
The body shook convulsively for a few minutes, the limbs 
moved about in a struggling way, and then all was quiet — 
death had done its work, and I had leisure to examine the 
huge body. It proved to be five feet ten inches high, and the 
muscular development of the arms and breast showed what 
immense strength it had possessed." 

Du Chaillu had already been taught by necessity to eat roast 
monkey; the chief objection to which, say thd^e who know, is 
that it looks unpleasantly like a child so prepared might look; 
but he felt repelled when the natives proceeded to cut up and 
eat the body of this monster, so like a man, and yet so hor- 
ribly different. He was soon to find that among the Fans the 
flesh of the gorilla was comparatively harmless and pleasing 
food; for they were cannibals. Not only did they devour the 
flesh of enemies killed in battle, as is the custom of other 
anthropophagi, but they even purchased from their neighbors 
the bodies of those who died a natural death ; and no disease 
was so revolting as to insure the body against being eaten. 

Gorillas were not the only game hunted. Early in Septem- 
ber Du Chaillu was invited to join in an elephant hunt, with 
about ^YG hundred men of the tribe. It is their practice, at 
such times as this, to seek out the spots that the elephants 
frequent, and there cautiously twist the vines together, so as 
to obstruct the course of the huge animal; of course they 
could not hope to hold him permanently; their only aim is to 
entangle him in his flight until they have time to put an end 
to his struggles by an incessant discharge of their spears and 
guns. So many are the spears thrown, that the elephant not 
infrequently looks like a gigantic porcupine, with wooden 
quills quivering in his sides. On this occasion, there were 
four elephants killed ; while by a charge of one of the infuri- 
ated beasts into the midst of the hunters, one of their number 
lost his life. 

It was Du Chaillu's desire to penetrate still farther into the 
interior; but the tribes were at war, and it was unsafe to do 
so ; he accordingly returned to the coast, and, except for short 



162 DU CHAILLU AND THE GORILLA COUNTRY. 

and unimportant expeditions, remained there until February, 
1857. Then he again set out, this time to explore the ter- 
ritory known as the Camma country, extending about seventy 
miles north of the river of that name, and eastward from the 
coast about fifty miles. Here he selected for his headquarters 
Biagano, the town of king Ranpano, who was the ally of one 
of Du Chaillu's friends among a more northern tribe. He 
carried with him a considerable stock of articles for barter ; a 
fact which so delighted the natives that they could scarcely be 
kept from hugging him. Here he built a number of huts to 
hold his stores and to serve him and his household for dwell- 
ings ; and was so well pleased with the appearance of his town 
that he dubbed it Washington. 

From Washington as a center, he went upon a number of 
hunting expeditions, and some excursions made especially for 
the purpose of exploration. In one of the latter, he ascended 
the Npoulounay, a branch of the Ogowai, and discovered the 
Lake of Anengue, a lake some ten miles wide, and very long in 
proportion to its width. 

He had received a number of invitations to visit king Quen- 
gueza, at his town Groumbi; but did not «.ccept until late in 
January, 1858. The town is ninety-five miles up the Fernand 
Yaz, which, like the Npoulounay, is a tributary of the Ogowai ; 
and it required a month's voyage to reach it. He was graci- 
ously received by the host who had for several months awaited 
his coming, and introduced to the people as "the king's white 
man," who was not to be harmed in his person or his pos- 
sessions at the penalty of their lives. From this point, Du 
Chaillu and the king ascended the river fifty miles farther, to 
the village of Obindji, a friendly chief of the Balakai. Obind- 
ji came down to the river in great state to receive- his guests. 
He was dressed in a coat and shirt and a nice cloth, and wore 
a hat as the visible sign of royalty. Nor was the represent- 
ative of the scepter wanting; for he carried a bell, which he 
rang continually. " Crown and scepter " may sound a great 
deal grander to our ears than " hat and cow-bell," but, after 
all, they are but empty signs of royalty. 

Quengueza seemed bent upon doing the honors to his guest, 
and accompanied him even farther up the river than this 
town where they were received with such ceremony. Return- 
ing the last of May to Obindji's town, they found the people 
fairly at the point of starvation; and Du Chaillu started out 
upon an extensive gorilla-hunt. One of the incidents is well 
worth narrating in his own words ; 



DU CHAILLU AND THE GORILLA COUNTRY. 



163 



'* I gave powder to the whole party. Six were to go off in 
one direction for bush-deer, and whatever luck might send 
them; and six others, of whom I was one, were to hunt for 
gorillas. We set off toward a dark valley, where Gambo, 




Chief Obindji and His Cow-Bell. 

Igoumba's son, said we should find our prey. The gorilla 
chooses the darkest, gloomiest forests for its home, and is 
found on the edges of clearings only when in search of plan- 
tains, or sugarcane, or pineapples. Often they choose for 
their peculiar haunt a piece of wood so dark that even at mid- 
dav one can scarcelv see ten vards. This makes it the more nec- 
11 



164 DU CHAILLU AND THE GOKILLA COUNTRY. 

essary to wait till the monstrous beast approaclies near before 
shooting, in order that the first shot may be fatal. 

" Our little party separated, as is the custom, to stalk the 
wood in various directions. One brave fellow went off alone 
in a direction where he thought he could find a gorilla. The 
other three took another course. We had been about an hour 
separated when Gambo and I heard a gun fired but little way 
from us, and presently another. We were already on our way 
to the spot- where we hoped to see a gorilla slain, when the 
forest began to resound with the most terrific roars. Gaml^o 
seized my arms in great agitation, and we hurried on, both 
filled with a dreadful and sickening fear. We had not gone 
far when our worst fears were realized. The poor brave fel- 
low who had gone off alone was lying on the ground in a pool 
of his own blood, and I thought at first quite dead. His bow- 
els were protruding through the lacerated abdomen. Beside 
him lay his gun. The stock was broken, and the barrel was 
bent and flattened. It bore plainly the marks of the gorilla's 
teeth. 

** We picked him up, and I dressed his wounds as well as I 
could with rags torn from my clothes. When I had given him 
a little brandy to drink he came to himself, and was able, but 
with great difiSculty, to speak. He said that he had met the 
gorilla suddenly and face to face, and that it had not attempted 
to escape. It was, he said, a huge male, and seemed very sav- 
age. It was in a very gloomy part of the wood, and the dark- 
ness, I suppose, made him miss. He said he took good aim., 
and fired only when the beast was about eight yards off. The 
ball merely wounded it in the side. It at once began beating 
its breasts, and with the greatest rage advanced upon him. To 
run away was impossible. He would have been caught in the 
jungle before he had gone a dozen steps. 

'' He stood his ground, and as quickly as he could reloaded 
his gun. Just as he raised it to fire the gorilla dashed it out of 
his hands, the gun going off in the fall; and then in an instant, 
and with a terrible roar, the animal gave him a tremendous 
blow with its immense open paw, frightfully lacerating the 
abdomen, and with this single blow laying bare part of the in- 
testines. As he sank, bleeding, to the ground, the monster 
seized the gun, and the poor hunter thought he would have 
his brains dashed out with it. But the gorilla seemed to look 
upon this also as an enemy, and in his rage flattened the bar- 
rel between his strong jaws. When we came upon the ground 
the gorilla was gone. This is their mode when attacked — to 



DU CHAILLU AXD THE GORILLA COUXTRY. 165 

strike one or two blows, and then leave the victims of their 
rage on the ground and go off into the woods." 

After something more than a month spent in hunting, Du 
Chaillu decided to return to Washington; but he w^as pros- 
trated here by fever, which is prevalent on that low part of 
the coast, and obliged to return to the higher lands about the 
mouth of the Gaboon to recuperate. Thence he set out, 
about the middle of autumn, for the country of the Ashiras. 
Passing through the territory which he had become acquainted 
Avith on his last trip, he came to the country of this tribe, 
where he was received with great honor and very striking 
ceremony, first by the chief men, and afterward by the king 
and his sons, all of whom w^ere negroes so old that their wool 
and beards Were snow-Avhite. He found the Ashiras industri- 
ous and thrifty, and advanced in civilization beyond the neigh- 
boring tribes; their manufactures of grass-cloth, especially, 
attracted his admiring attention. 

He decided to visit the Apingi tribe, living next beyond the 
Ashiras. To this project the king of the latter people not 
only assented, but appointed three of his sons to accompany 
the traveler to the farther country, with the people of which 
he kept up friendly intercourse. The white man's reception 
among the Apingi was in no way inferior to those with which 
he had already met; he w^as ferried across the. river, escorted 
to the town, and lodged in the largest house there; then the 
king paid him a visit. But let the adventurer himself tell the 
story : 

" He brought me two dozen fowls, and some bunches of plan- 
tains, and baskets of cassava, which being laid at my feet, he 
addressed me, saying: 

"'I have beheld what our forefathers never saw, what I 
never saw before. I bid welcome to thee, O white man, 
O spirit! I thank your father' (turning to Minsho) 'for 
sending this spirit to me, for nothing greater could happen 
to us.' 

"Then he said: 

" ' Be glad, O spirit, and eat of things we give thee.' 

" Whereupon, to my astonishment, a slave was handed over 
to me bound, and Remandji said: 

" ' Kill him for your evening meal; he is tender and fat, and 
you must be hungry.' 

'* It took me a moment to recover from my astonishment. 
Then I^hook my head, spat violently on the ground, and 
made Minsho tell him that I abhorred the people who ate. 



166 BU CHAILLU AND THE GORILLA COUNTRY. 

human flesh, and that I and my people never did so. To 
which Kemandji replied: 

*' * We always heard that you white men eat men. Why do 
you buy our people? Why do you come from nobody knows 
where, and carry off our men and women and children? Do 
you not fatten them in your far country, and eat them? There- 
fore I gave you this slave, that you might kill him, and make 
glad your heart.' " 

Du Chaillu finally succeeded in making the king understand 
that he did not intend to eat this slave or any other human 
flesh ; but it was beyond his powers to make the savage com- 
prehend what use the slavers had for his people, if the captives 
were not fattened and eaten by the captors; the laws of 
supply and demand were beyond his capacity. 

The Apingi could not show too much honor to their strange 
guest; and finally, at the earnest desire of Eemandji himself, 
elected Du Chaillu their king. Their reason for so doing was, 
that they expected him, when thus honored, to exercise his 
magical powers by making them an unlimited supply of beads, 
by the aid of the wonderful spirit which he possessed in the 
shape of an old American clock. On one occasion, they 
gathered in great numbers to see him make a pile of beads as 
high as the top of a large tree ; but the show did not come off. 

He had arrived in his Apingi kingdom, as he styles it, a little 
before the middle of December, 1858; one week after his ar- 
rival, he was formally presented with the bell, which here, as 
among other tribes, corresponds to the scepter of more civil- 
ized nations. But they found their proposed honors not so 
well appreciated as they had hoped. Within less than two 
weeks after the investiture, he had set out toward Ashango 
land; but being compelled to turn back, he returned to the 
coast a little more than a month after he first reached their 
town. So ended one of the shortest reigns in history. 

This was not the last of Du Chaillu 's African travels, for 
other expeditions were riiade, up to the year 1865; but the 
later ventures were made simply to confirm the facts ascer- 
tained earlier. His statements were received with not a little 
distrust at first, mainly because they could not be reconciled 
entirely with the maps of Barth and Petermann. Many of 
these statements were, however, confirmed by Serval; and his 
assertions concerning the Fan tribe were verified by Burton ; 
so that his reputation for accuracy may be considered estab- 
lished. However, as said before, Du Chaillu's contributions 
to our knowledge of Africa consist more largely of partic- 



DV CHAILLIT AND THE GORILLA COUNTRY. 167 

lars relating to its plants and animals than to the configura- 
tion of the country and the sources and courses of its rivers. 

The expedition of Serval, who verified many of the state- 
ments of Du Chaillu, was made in the year 1862. He was ac- 
companied by the ship's surgeon, Griffen du Bellay^ and was 
himself a lieutenant in the French navy. They ascended the 
Ogowai, the tributaries of which had, many of them, been 
explored by Du Chaillu, as far as longitude eleven degrees 
thirty seconds east from Greenwich. It was their purpose to 
ascend it to the point where two smaller streams unite to form 
one large river ; but they were threatened by the natives in 
such a way that they began to doubt their ability to do so. 
While they were thus dubious of the result of their journey, 
they learned that the people of two large towns had plotted 
to plunder their boat and divide the spoils ; under such cir- 
cumstances, there was but one thing to do; and the two 
adventurers were very glad that they were allowed to do that. 
They beat a retreat in good order, and returned to the French 
settlements on the coast. 

Twelve years later, two other Frenchmen, MM. Compiegne 
and Marche, ascended the Ogowai to a point two hundred 
miles above that reached by Serval and his companion ; they 
were informed by the natives that the river came from four 
great lakes; but the hostility of the natives, as they pro- 
ceeded, compelled them to give up the quest for its sources. 



CHAPTER IX. 




SEARCH FOR THE .YILE SO TJRCES BY B VRTOK, 
' SPEKE AJYD GRAJfT. 

E have chosen to include these three explorers in one 
chapter, because, although the adventures of each might 
fill a volume — the adventures of two, at least, have been 
embodied in several books — they are so intimately con- 
nected that it is difficult to dissociate them without doing 
much violence to the narrative. 

Captain Richard F. Burton was the leader of the first expe- 
dition. He had made a brief visit to the Somali coast of 
Africa, and, disguised as an Arab merchant, had penetrated to 
the Mohammedan city of Harrar, when, in 1856, he proposed 
to the Royal Geographical Society an expedition for exploring 
the "Sea of Ujiji," as Lake Tanganyika was called. The 
proposition was at once taken up by the government, and a 
thousand pounds granted for the purpose. Captain Burton 
was, as above noted, made leader of the expedition, and an- 
other officer of the army. Captain John Hanning Speke, was 
detailed to accompany him. 

They reached Zanzibar in the last month of 1856 ; but six 
months were consumed in making their final preparations for 
departure. The sultan of Zanzibar furnished them with an 
escort, consisting of an officer and thirteen soldiers; their 
party included, besides these, two negroes from India, two 
half-caste Portuguese servants from Goa, eight interpreters 
under an African freeman, five donkey-drivers, thirty-six port- 
ers, and nineteen others whose duties were not exactly defined 
— a total of eighty-eight persons. 

The dominion of the sultan then extended no more than five 
miles from the coast; so that they were soon without the 

limits of his friendly sovereignty. One thing that they 

168 



SEARCH FOR THE NILE SOURCES. 1^9 

remarked did not add to their sense of security in this savage 
country. Captain Burton says : 

" On the wayside appeared for the first time the Khambi, or 
substantial kraals, which give evidence of unsafe traveling and 
of the unwillingness of caravans to bivouac in the villages. 
In this country they assumed the form of round huts, and long 
sheds or booths of straw or grass, supported by a framework 




Capt. Richard F. Burton. 

of rough sticks firmly planted in the ground and lashed 
together with bark strips. The whole was surrounded with a 
deep circle of thorns, which — the entrance or entrances being 
carefully closed at night-fall, not to re-open until dawn — 
formed a complete defense against bare feet and naked legs." 
The tribe through whose territory they first passed was the 
Wazaramo, a people that dress their hair by means of a poma- 
tum of clay, moistened with castor oil. When this prepara- 



170 SEARCH FOR THE .VILE SOURCES 

tion is nearly dry, the hair is pulled out into numerous wiry 
twists, which point in all directions. They levy heavy taxes 
upon all the merchants and others who pass through the terri- 
tory of their tribe, which amount to positive plunder. Their 
nearness to the coast has changed them, in many respects, 
from their natural state ; they wore more clothes than are the 
fashion among most of the tribes of Africa; while their houses 
are superior, in point of "modern conveniences," to the huts 
of their neighbors. 

The travelers arrived at the foot of the mountains near the 
end of July. They both suffered much from malaria, com- 
mon to the coast, and were so ill that they could scarcely sit 
up as they rode. On the way up the mountains they saw many 
skeletons of those who had perished on the road, the bones 
picked clean by the birds of prey. As they ascended, the 
purer air of the mountains banished their malaria, and they 
recovered, to some degree, from their wasting fevers. 

As they traversed a plain between two ranges of mountains, 
they came upon a sight which spoke more eloquently than any- 
thing else could (where human figures were lacking) of the 
horrors of one great African traffic. A village was completely 
destroyed, the houses battered or burned down, and every evi- 
dence of human habitation defaced. There '^f ere many signs 
of struggling, such as the earth and neighboring trees could 
tell; though there was no blood. The village had been 
attacked by slavers, and the inhabitants carried off. Two 
negr(?es lurked in the neighboring jungle, but when the travel- 
ers would have invited them to closer quarters, fled in terror. 
Both Burton and Speke felt the tragedy of which they beheld 
the scene; but not so their native attendants. To them it was 
a mere matter of course ; they spent the night in singing and 
dancing, and helping themselves to whatever they could find in 
the ruins. 

The climate of the country through which they were now 
passing is described as " a furnace by day and a refrigerator 
by night." They reached "Windy Pass," at the foot of the 
third range of the Usagara mountains, early in September. In 
spite of all that they had had to endure from the heat of the 
sun and the lack of water, the most difficult part of the jour- 
ney was still to come. From their camp in the valley, the ex- 
plorers could see the almost perpendicular face of the moun- 
tain, and wonder how they, weak and sick (for they were again 
troubled with ague) could ascend it. But they did not de- 
spair. The asses stumbled at almost every step, while the 



Bt BTJRTON, SPEKE ANt> GRANT. l7l 

men were endeavoring to mount a precipice where almost 
every foot dislodged a rolling stone. The ascent required six 
hours; and Captain Speke suffered so severely from it that 
two days of violent delirium intervened before he was able to 
continue the journey, even in a hammock. 

Through countries where each tribe seemed more intent on 
plunder (they called it presents to the chief) than the last had 
been, the travelers came at length to Unyamwezi, the Land of 
the Moon. Their approach to Tura Nullah, the first town of 
this country, created a sensation — literally "astonished the 
natives:" 

a ^e reached a large expanse of pillar-stones, where the van 
had halted, in order that the caravan might make its first ap- 
pearance with dignity. Then ensued a clearing, studded with 
large stockaded villages, peering over tall hedges of dark-green 
milk-bush, fields of maize and millet, manioc, gourds, and 
water-melons, and showing numerous flocks and herds, clust- 
ering around the shallow pits. The people swarmed from their 
abodes, young and old hustling one another for a better stare, 
the man forsook his loom and the girl her hoe, and for the re-, 
mainder of the march we were escorted by a tail of screaming 
boys and shouting adults; the males almost nude, the women 
bare to the waist, and clothed only knee-deep in kilts, accom- 
panied us, puffing pipes the while, striking their hoes with 
stones, crying 'beads, beads!' and ejaculating their wonder 
in strident expressions of ' Hi ! hi I ' and ' Hiu ! ih ! ' and ' Ha ! 
a! a!'" 

The porters took possession of a considerable assemblage of 
vacant huts, and the two white men were assigned to a wall-less 
roof, bounded on one side by the village palisade. Here the 
mob came to behold the strangers, and from morning till night 
there was no cessation of their staring; when one had gazed 
his fill, another at once took his place. 

From this point onward, we find the progress of the party 
even less rapid than it had been heretofore ; so greatly were 
they delayed by sickness. Before they had passed into the 
country which lies nearest to Lake Tanganyika, they were 
obliged to dismiss those servants who had been hired for a 
term of six months ; and it was nearly seven months after their 
departure that they resumed their march without these per- 
sons. It was to occupy almost two months, before they came 
upon the lake which it was their intention to explore. We 
quote again from Burton : 

*'Onthe 13th of February we resumed our travel through 



172 SEARCH FOR THE XILE SOURCES 

screens of lofty grass, which thinned out into a straggling for- 
est. After about an hour's march, as we entered a small 
savannah, I saw the the fundi running forward and changing 
the direction of the caravan. "Without supposing that he had 
taken upon himself this responsibility, I followed him. Pres- 
ently he breasted a steep and stony hill, sparsely clad with 
thorny trees. Arrived with toil, for our fagged beasts now re- 
fused to proceed, we halted for a few minutes upon the sum- 
mit. ' What is that streak of light which lies below?' I in- 
quired of Seedy Bombay. ' I am of opinion,' quoth Bom- 
bay, ' that that is the water.' I gazed in dismay; the remains 
of my blindness, the veil of trees, and a broad ray of sunshine 
illuminating but one reach of the lake bend, shrunk its fair 
proportions. Somewhat -prematurely, I began to lament my 
folly in having risked life and lost breath for so poor a prize, 
to curse Arab exaggeration, and to propose an immediate re- 
turn, with the view of exploring Nyanza, a northern lake. 
Advancing, however, a few yards, the whole scene burst upon 
my View, filling me with admiration, wonder, and delight. 

"Nothing could be more picturesque than this first view of 
the Tanganyika lake, as it lay in the lap of the mountains, 
basking in the gorgeous tropical sunshine. Below and beyond 
a short foreground of rugged and precipitous hill-fold, down 
which the foot-path zig-zags painfully, a narrow strip of em- 
erald green, never sere, and marvelously fertile, shelves 
toward a ribbon of glistening yellow sand, here bordered by 
sedgy rushes, there cleanly and clearly cut by the breaking 
wavelets. Farther in front stretch the waters — an expanse of 
the lightest and softest blue — in breadth varying from thirty 
to thirty-five miles, and sprinkled by the crisp east wind with 
tiny crescents of snowy foam. The background in front is a 
high and broken wall of steel-colored mountain, here flecked 
and capped with pearly mist, there standing sharply penciled 
against the azure air; its yawning chasms, marked by a deeper 
plum-color, fall toward dwarf hills of mound-like proportions, 
which apparently dip their feet in the wave. To the south, 
and opposite the long low point behind which the Malagarazi 
river discharges the red loam suspended in its violent stream, 
lie the bluff headlands and capes of Aguhha, and, as the eye 
dilates, it falls upon a cluster of out-ljang islets specking & sea- 
horizon. Villages, cultivated lands, the frequent canoes of 
the fishermen on the waters, and, on a nearer apiDroach, the 
murmurs of the waves breaking upon the shore, give some- 
thing of variety, of movement, of life to the landscape, which, 



BY BURTON, SFEKE AXD GRAJs'T. l73 

like all the fairest prospects in these regions, wants but a 
little of the neatness and finish of art — mosques and kiosks, 
palaces and villas, gardens and orchards — contrasting with the 
profuse lavishness and magnificence of nature, and diversify- 
ing the coup cVoeil unbroken of excessive vegetation, to rival, 
if not to excel, the most admired scenery of the classic reg- 
ions, the riant shores of this vast crevasse appeared doubly 
beautiful to me after the silent and spectral mangrove creeks 
on the East African sea-board, and the melancholy, monot- 
onous experience of desert and jungle scenery, tawny rock and 
sun-parched plain, or rank herbage and flats of black mire. 
Truly it was a revel for soul and sight." 

Proceeding at once to Kawele, which may be considered as 
the port of Ujiji, the explorers endeavored to procure a boat 
for the navigation of the lake ; but this was no easy matter. 
Despairing of procuring a vessel at Kawele, Captain Speke 
went in a canoe, with twenty men, to Ukaranga, for the pur- 
pose of hiring a dhow from the Arab merchant there who was 
the possessor of the sole vessel of this kind upon the lake. 
The Arab detained him there by evasive answers for several 
days, and at last agi*eed to let him have it at the end of three 
months. 

The natives had told them of a river by means of which the 
waters of the lake were emptied — a great river, flowing toward 
the west; and their eager interest was too thoroughly aroused 
to permit them to wait all this time inactive. They hired two 
canoes for an exorbitant sum, one sixty feet by four, the 
other about forty feet long. In such vessels, they proposed to 
navigate the lake which they believed to be the recipient and 
absorbent of the entire river system — the heart from which 
the great rivers, like arteries, drew their floods, and to which 
the vein-like smaller streams brought their constant contribu- 
tions. For fifteen days they kept onward; nine days they re- 
mained at the point so reached, Uvira, and in nine days more 
they returned to their starting-place. Of the difficulties of the 
journey. Captain Burton says : 

*'The boating was rather a severe trial. We had no means 
of resting the back; the holds of the canoes, besides being 
knee-deep in water, were disgracefully crowded. They had 
been appropriated to us and our four servants by Kannena, 
but by degrees he introduced, in addition to the stores, spars, 
broken vases, pots and gourds, a goat, two or three small boys, 
one or two sick sailors, the little slave girl, and the large sheep. 
The canoes were top-heavy with the^ number of their crew, and 




NATIVE AFRICAN WAR INSTRUMENTS AND ORNAMENTS. 



SEAECH FOR THE NILE SOURCES. 175 

the shipping of many seas spoiled our tents, and, besides, wetted 
our salt and soddenedour grain and flour; the gunpowder was 
damaged, and the guns were honeycombed with rust. Besides 
the splashing of the paddles and the dashing of the waves, 
heavy showers fell almost every day and night, and the inter- 
vals were bursts of burning sunshine." 

It should be remembered, in explanation of what is said 
above of the leaking of the canoes, that these vessels are hol- 
lowed out of logs, which soon shrink and crack; for want of 
caulking, they become leaky at once ; and it is a regular part 
of the proceedings during any trip by water to bale out the 
boats. Narrow seats are placed across the vessel, and on each 
of these sit two men, managing the clumsy paddles which are 
their substitutes for the oars. A clear space in the middle 
about six feet long constitutes the hold in which, according to 
Captain Burton's account, so many and such various articles 
were stowed away. Nor was this all ; from morning till night, 
or as long as they were engaged in paddling, the men whom 
they had hired for this work kept up a long, monotonous 
howl, varied by yells and shouts, and accompanied by the bray 
of horns, tomtoms, shamms, and whatever other instruments 
of noise are known to them; so that it was simply impossible 
to make calculations, to take observations, or do anything 
else to further the scientific objects of the expedition. Super- 
stition forbade the boatmen to tolerate any questions, or to 
permit the lead to be hove ; nor could the captain who had 
been engaged to control them dissuade them from stopping 
where they pleased, or from going on from a point where they 
did not wish to stop. 

As above stated, they proceeded only a fifteen days' journey 
along the shores of the lake ; the reason why they did not go 
any farther was that the captain and sailors refused to do so, 
although they had been hired for the whole trip. Persuasions 
were useless, and so were threats; they had made up their 
minds that they would go no farther, and the Englishmen who 
had suffered so much in the journey thither were compelled to 
turn back by the whim of a set of ignorant savages. 

Burton and Speke remained at Ujiji for three months and a 
half; and being unable to accomplish anything more, set out 
on their return journey as soon as a caravan with the needful 
supplies had reached the lake. Their departure was taken 
May 26, 1858 ; and nearly a month later, they arrived at Kazeh, 
two hundred and sixty-five miles distant. Here it was de- 
termined that they should separate for a time ; for they were 



176 SEARCH FOR THE NILE SOURCES 

desirous of exploring a great lake, which, the natives told 
them, lay some fifteen or sixteen marches toward the north. 
This, of course, was no other than the Victoria Nyanza, as it 
was named by its discoverer. Hitherto, Tanganyika and the 
Nyanzas, judged by the native accounts which had reached 
European ears, had been confused, just as, at an earlier date, 
the Niger and Congo had been confused. Both Burton and 
Speke now, however, grasped the situation; all discrepancies 
were explained, if this hitherto unknown basin should be 
proved to have an actual existence. Captain Burton was so 
reduced by fever that he was compelled to forego the enter- 
prise, and Captain Speke accordingly left him at Kazeh, and 
pressed forward without a white companion. 

After a journey of twenty days, he saw, on the 30th of July, 
1858, the vast inland sea stretching before him. It was the 
long-sought source of the Nile, he believed; and to the lake 
which no white man had ever before looked upon, he gave its 
native name, coupled with that of the sovereign to whose ser- 
vice he was sworn — the Victoria Nyanza. 

Returning in all haste, he reached his companion on the 
25th of August, and they together set out fojr Zanzibar; 
whence they set sail, arriving in England February 9, 1859. 

The two explorers were received with much enthusiasm by 
the Royal Geographical Society, and presented each with a 
gold medal, as a reward (or rather recognition) of their ser- 
vices. In Captain Burton's response to the speech of Sir 
Roderick Murchison, the President of the Society, we find the 
summing up of what part each had taken in the expedition : 

*' You have alluded, sir, to the success of the last expedition. 
Justice compels me to state the circumstances under which it 
attained that success. To Captain Speke are due those geo- 
graphical results to which you have alluded in such flattering 
terms. While I undertook the history and ethnography, the 
languages and peculiarity of the people, to Captain Speke fell 
the arduous task of delineating an exact topography, and of 
laying down our positions by astronomical observations — a 
labor to which, at times, even the undaunted Livingstone 
found himself unequal." 

Captain Burton's health had been so seriously affected by 
the African climate, and by the hardships endured on this 
journey, that he felt himself unequal, for the time at least, to 
farther efforts of this nature. Captain Speke, however, was 
ready to undertake the venture ; and he says that this expedi- 
tion "maybe said to have commenced on the 9th of May, 



BY BURTON, SPEKE AND GRANT. 177 

1859, the first day after my return to England from my second 
expedition, when, at the invitation of Sir E. I. Murchison, I 
called at his house to show him my map for the information 
of the Royal Geographical Society. Sir Roderick, I need 
only say, at once accepted my views ; and knowing my ardent 
desire to prove to the world, by actual inspection of the exit, 
that the Victoria Nyanza was the source of the Nile, seized 
the enlightened view that such a discovery should not be lost 
to the glory of England and the society of which he was 
president; and said to me: " Speke, we must send you there 
again." 

The expedition, thus informally projected, was afterward 
discussed in good earnest; Captain Speke requesting that ^ve 
thousand pounds be given him for the purpose. The Society 
thought his demand too large, however, and he finally ac- 
cepted half the sum named, saying that he would pay from 
his own pocket whatever else was needed. It was his plan to 
send forward a quantity of supplies by caravans, to be lodged 
in certain towns awaiting his arrival ; so that he should not 
have to travel through a thievish country with such great 
stores; but this intention, owing to the delays which "red 
tapeism" interposed, could not be wholly carried out. 

Captain Grant, an old friend and fellow-sportsman, hearing 
of the projected expedition, requested to be allowed to ac- 
company it; and he was formally detailed as Captain Speke's 
companion. The route by which they were to go was at first a 
matter of some doubt. Many persons said, if they wished to 
find the source of the Nile, the natural plan would be for them 
to ascend the river until they came to the head-waters; but 
Captain Speke urged against this that several travelers had 
tried it, and froin some unexplained reason had failed; he 
preferred to proceed to Zanzibar, thence strike across the 
country, and, having reached the lake, explore its coasts until 
he came to the stream issuing from it which might be sup- 
posed to be the Nile, and descend that far enough to verify 
his conclusions. The nature of the return journey would have 
to be determined by the circumstances then encountered. 

October 2, 1860, the march inland from Zanzibar began. 
The caravan consisted of about two hundred persons; but 
eleven deserted before starting. Go they must, however, 
because one desertion would be sure to lead to another ; and 
go they did. The route as far as Zungemero was the same as 
that traversed on the previous expedition, and was followed 
Avithout special incident until they reached the last district in 



178 



SEARCH FOR THE NILE SOURCES 



Ugogo, Khoko. Near this point Captain Speke met with a 
hunting adventure which is well worth repeating. Ninety-six 
men of his caravan had deserted, and it was necessary to halt 




Capt. J. II. Speke. 



while Sheikh Said found new recruits, laid in provisions of 
grain to last them eight days in the wilderness, and settled for 
their maintenance with the chief whose hospitality the}^ were 
then experiencing. 



BY BURTON, SPEKE AND GRANT. 



179 



" For this triple business I allowed three days, during which 
time, always eager to shoot something, either for science 
or the pot, I killed abicornis rhinoceros, at a distance of five 




Capt. Grant. 



paces only, * * * as the beast stood quietly feeding in the 
bush; and I also shot a bitch-fox, * * * whose ill-omened 
cry often alarms the natives by forewarning them of danger. 
This was rather tame sport; but next day I had better fun, 
1^ 



180 SEAKCH FOR THE NILE SOURCES " 

*' Starting in the early morning, accompanied by two of 
Sheikh Said's boys, Suliman and Faraj, each carrying a rifle, 
while I carried a shot-gun, w^e followed a foot-path to the 
westward in the wilderness of Mgunda Mkhali. There, after 
walking a short while in the bush, as I heard the grunt of a 
buffalo close on my left, I took ' Blissett ' in hand, and 
walked to where I soon espied a large herd quietly feeding. 
They were quite unconscious of my approach, so I took a shot 
at a cow, and wounded her; then, after reloading, put a ball 
in a bull, and staggered him also. This caused great con- 
fusion among them; but, as none of the animals knew where 
the shots came from, they simply shifted about in a fidgety 
manner, allowing me to kill the first cow, and even to fire a 




Suliman Gets into a Tree Quick. 

fourth shot, which sickened the great bull, and induced him 
to walk off, leaving the herd to their fate, who, considerably 
puzzled, began moving off also. 

*'I now called up the boys, and determined on following 
the herd dow^n before either skinning the dead cow or follow- 
ing the bull, who, I knew, could not go far. Their foot- 
prints being well defined in the moist sandy soil, we soon 
found the herd again ; but, as they now knew they were pur- 
sued, they kept moving on in short runs at a time, when, oc- 
casionally gaining glimpses of their large dark bodies as they 
forced through the bush, I repeated my shots and struck a 
good number, some more and some less severely. This was very 
provoking ; for all of them, being stern shots, were not likely to 
kill ; and the jungle was so thick I could not get a front view 



BY BURTON, SPEKE AND GRANT. 181 

of them. Presently, however, one of them with her hind leg 
broken pulled up on a white-ant hill, and tossing her horns, came 
down with a charge the instant I showed myself close to her. 
One crack of the rifle rolled her over, and gave me 'free scope 
to improve the bag, which was very soon done ; for on follow- 
ing the spoors, the traces of blood led us up to another one as 
lame as the last. He then got a second bullet in the flank, 
and, «fter hobbling a little, evaded our sight and threw himself 
into a bush, where we no sooner arrived than he plunged 
headlong at us from his ambush, just, and only just, giving me 
time to present m}^ small 40-guage Lancaster. 

" It was a most ridiculous scene. Suliman by my side, with 
the instinct of a monkey, made a violent spring and swung 
himself by a bough immediately over the beast, while Faraj 
bolted away and left me single-gunned to polish him off. 
There was only one course. to pursue; for in one instant more 
he would have been into me; so, quick as thought, I fired the 
gun, and^ as luck would have it, my bullet, after passing 
through the edge of one of his horns, stuck in the spine of 
his neck, and rolled him over at my feet dead as^ a rabbit. Now, 
having cut the beast's throat to make him 'hilal,' according to 
the Mussulman usage, and thinking we had done enough if I 
could only return to the first wounded bull and settle him 
too, we commenced retracing our steps, and by accident came 
on Grant. He w^as passing by from another quarter, and be- 
came amused by the glowing description of my boys, who 
never omitted to narrate their own cowardice as an excellent 
tale. He begged us to go on in our course, while he would go 
back and send us some porters. to carry home the game. 

''Now, tracking back again to the first point of attack, we 
followed the blood of the first bull, till at length I found him 
standing like a stuck pig in some bushes, looking as if he 
would have liked to be put out of his miseries. Taking com- 
passion, I leveled my Blissett ; but as bad luck would have it, a 
bough intercepted the flight of the bullet, and it went pinging 
into the air, whilo the big bull went off at a gallop. To fol- 
low on was no difiiculty, the spoor was so good ; and in ten 
minutes more, as I opened on a small clearance, Blissett in hand, 
the great beast, from a thicket on the opposite side, charged 
down like a mad bull, full of ferocity — as ugly an antagonist 
as I ever saw, for the front of his head was all shielded with 
horn. A small mound fortunately stood between us, and as 
he rounded it, I jumped to one side and let fly at his flank, but 
without the effect of stopping him ; for, as quick as thought, 



182 SEARCH FOR THE NILE SOURCES 

the huge monster was at my feet, battling with the impalpable 
smoke of my gun, which fortunately hung so thick on the 
ground at the height of his head that he could not see me, 
though I was so close that I might, had I been possessed of a 
hatchet, have chopped off his head. This was a predicament 
that looked very ugly, for my boys had both bolted, taking 
with them my guns ; but suddenly the beast, evidently regard- 
ing the smoke as a phantom which could not be mastered, 
turned round in a bustle, to my intense relief, and galloj^ed off 
at full speed, as if scared by some terrible apparition. 

" Oh what would I not then have given for a gun, the chance 
was such a good one! Still, angry as I was, I could not hel^D 
laughing as the dastardly boys came into the clearance full of 
their mimicry, and joked over the scene they had witnessed in 
security, while my life was in jeopardy because they were too 
frightened to give me my gun. But now came the worst part 
of the day ; for though rain was falling, I had not the heart to 
relinquish my game. Tracking on through the bush, I 
thought every minute I should come up with the brute ; but 
his wounds ceased to bleed, and in the confusion of the 
numerous tracks which scored all the forest we lost our own." 

The boys were no more reliable as guides than they had 
been as hunting companions ; for insisting that they were fol- 
lowing the right track, they passed that which their own feet 
had really made, and wandered about in the pathless forest for 
hours. Nor was their judgment regarding the points of the 
compass to be relied upon; but after a night spent on the 
rain-soaked earth. Captain Speke could only convince them 
that east was not west by pointing to the rising sun. 

Their absence had naturally created alarm at the camp, and 
volleys had been fired throughout the night. Some echoes of 
these had indeed reached their ears, but had been confounded 
with rolls of distant thunder, of which there had also been 
many. 

Speke was surprised, on reaching the bounds of Unyan- 
yembe, to find that changes had taken place since his previous 
visit; the Arabs, who. had then been simple merchants, carry- 
ing on commerce between the natives and the coast, had en- 
gaged in a deadly war with the negroes, and, being victorious, 
lived as lords of the soil. The war was not yet over ; and, in ad- 
dition to its horrors, the explorers learned that a famine was 
here raging. These circumstances detained them for several 
months at Kazeh, for it was literally impossible to procure 
porters for the transportation of their baggage. 



BY BURTON, SPEKE AND GRANT. 183 

They improved the -time by a careful study of the Wagandas. 
It should be remembered that the languages of this part of 
Africa agree in denoting, by prefixes, the yariations of geo- 
graphical terms. For instance, Uganda is the country, Wag- 
anda denotes the people inhabiting it; Mganda is the designa- 
tion of an individual of the Waganda; and Kiganda is the 
language which he speaks. It should further be noted that 
Nyanza, more properly Avritten N'yanza, is a general term ap- 
plied to any great body of water, either river or lake. The 
earliest explorers of this section of the continent made the 
mistake of supposing it to be a proper name, and hence arose 
a confusion of ideas. 

It must not be supposed that they were wholly inactive dur- 
ing this period; they progressed somewhat, but very slowly; 
sickness having its due influence in hindering their advance, 
as well as the external circumstances which have been men- 
tioned. They entered the rich flat district of Mininga late in 
March, and took up their quarters in a hut belonging to Sir- 
boko, a broken-down ivory merchant, and the greatest man of 
the district. He advised them to remain there for a time; 
and after consultation with the chief of their own followers, 
they resolved to accept the advice. 

Their host had lost all his property by the burning of a vil- 
lage in which it had been stored; and come hither, in order to 
avoid his creditors on the coast. He had engaged in agricul- 
ture, his operations being confined chiefly to rice, because the 
natives do not like it well enough to steal it. 

Here they had the opportunity of doing a humane act; for 
one of Sirboko's slaves, recognizing Speke, told him that he 
had been in a fight at Ujiji, speared all over and left for dead, 
but then seized by the returning enemy, and sold to the Arabs. 
His touching appeal could not be withstood, and the explorer 
interceded with his master to grant him freedom. The release 
was effected ; the f reedman was newly named Farhan (Joy) 
and duly enrolled in Speke 's service. 

The two white men frequently separated for a few days at 
the time, Captain Speke most often making short excursions 
into the surrounding country, while Captain Grant remained 
with the caravan, recruiting his health, which had been much 
affected by the climate, and enjoying himself dancing with the 
native women. He himself furnished the sketch from which 
the accompanying cut is taken, so that we cannot suppose but 
that he was proud of his favor among the ladies. 

Late in November, 1861, they reached the palace of King 



IPp3IWl«S 



!il:i''i 



1114^ 






I 
ill 




ili 




SEARCH FOR THE NILE SOURCES. 185 

Rumanika, situated on the shores of a beautiful lake in the 
bosom of the hills, to which the discoverers gave the name of 
Little Windermere. Rumanika received them with cordiality, 
and even requested that they would take two of his sons with 
them when they returned to their own country, that they 
might be taught the wjiite men's learning. He was the best 
native prince that they had yet encountered ; and they were 
not a little pleased with his generous and eager mind. 

This king sent a messenger to Mtesa, the king of Uganda, 
to announce the approach of the party. This embassador re- 
turned January 10, 1862, accompanied by an escort of smartly 
dressed men, women, and boys, to conduct the white men to 
the capital of Uganda. Captain Grant was unable to travel; 
but leaving him to follow later on. Captain Speke set out the 
next day with this retinue. 

They crossed the equator February 7; and shortly after 
passing the line, they were met by some pages who came as 
messengers from Mtesa, to say that the king had made a vow 
that he would neither eat nor drink until the white men should 
have come to him. Speke says: 

*' One march more, and we came in sight of the king's 
kibuga, or palace, in the province of Bandawarogo, north 
latitude twenty-one minutes, nineteen seconds, and east longi- 
tude thirty-two degrees, forty-foui^minutes, thirty seconds. 
It was a magnificent sight. A whole hill was covered with 
gigantic huts, such as I had never seen in Africa before. I 
wished to go up to the palace at once, but the officers said : 
*No, that would be considered indecent in Uganda; you must 
draw up your men and fire your guns off, to let the king know 
that you are here; we will then show you your residence, and 
to-morrow you will doubtless be sent for, as the king could 
not now hold a levee while it is raining.' I made the men fire, 
and then was shown into a lot of dirty huts, which, they said, 
were built expressly for the king's visitors. The Arabs, when 
they came on their visits, always put up here, and I must do 
the same. At first I stuck out my claims as a foreign prince, 
whose royal blood could not stand such an indignity. The 
palace was my sphere; and unless I could get a hut there, I 
would return without seeing the king. 

" In a terrible fright at my blustering, Nyamgundu fell at my 
feet and implored me not to be hasty. * * * i gave way to 
this good man's appeal, and cleaned my hut by firing it to the 
ground; for, like all the huts in this dog country, it was full 
of fleas. Once ensconced there, the king's pages darted in to 



SEARCH FOR THE NILE SOURCES. 187 

see me, bearing a message from their master, who said he was 
sorry the rain prevented him from holding a levee that day, 
but the next he would be delighted to see me." 

The next day, word was duly sent that the stranger was 
awaited at court; and costuming himself for the occasion, and 
preparing his presents for presentation, Speke gave the signal 
that he was ready to proceed. * * Arrived at the ante-re- 
ception court, he found it necessary to assert his dignity in 
no measured terms. 

'* By the chief officers in waiting, who thought fit to treat us 
like Arab merchants, I was requested to sit on the ground outside 
in the sun with my servants. Now I had made up my mind 
never to sit on the ground as the natives and Arabs are obliged 
to do, nor to make my obeisance in any other manner than is 
customary in England, though the Arabs had told me that from 
fear they had always complied with the manners of the court. 
I felt that if I did not stand up for my social position at once, 
I should be treated with contempt during the remainder of my 
visit, and thus lose the vantage-ground I had assumed of ap- 
pearing as a prince, rather than as a trader, for the purpose of 
better gaining the confidence of the king. To avert over-has- 
tiness, however, — for my servants began to be alarmed as I 
demurred against doing as I- was bid — I allowed ^ve minutes 
to the court to give me a proper reception, saying if it were 
not conceded I would then walk away. 

"Nothing, however, was done. * * The affair ended by 
my walking straight away home. " 

The Waganda stood " still as posts, " unable to understand 
such temerity; Speke's own servants were greatly troubled for 
their master, not knowing what would be the consequence of his 
deed. Meantime Mtesahad been told of his action; and sent 
messengers in hot haste to beg him to return. Speke coolly 
shook his head and patted his heart, and walked on a little 
faster. Shortly after he arrived at his hut, other messengers 
came to say that if he would but return, he might bring with 
him a chair to sit upon — an unparalleled concession, since no 
one in Uganda but the king is allowed the dignity of such a 
seat. Having drank a cup of coffee and smoked a pipe, the 
angry prince (?) leisurely returned to the court of King Mtesa. 

King Mtesa was seated on his throne to receive the guest, 
who, on being told to halt and sit in the burning sun, coolly 
put on his hat and raised his umbrella. For upwards of an 
hour he and the king sat silently regarding each other; 
Speke mute, but Mtesa pointing and remarking with those 



SEARCH FOR THE NILE SOURCES. 



189 



around him on the novelty of the visitor's guard and general 
appearance, and even requiring to see his hat lifted, the umbrel- 
la opened and shut, and the guards face about and show their 




King Mtesa and His Chief Officers. 

red cloaks — for such wonders had never been seen in Uganda. 

Then, inquiring by means of an interpreter if Speke had 

seen him, and receiving an affirmative reply, the chief arose 



190 SEAilCiFi FOR THE NILE SOURCES 

and walked away, in what was intended to be a very majestic 
gait. "It was the traditional walk of his race, founded on 
the step of the lion ; but the outward sweep of the legs in- 
tended to represent the stride of this noble beast, appeared 
to me only to realize a very ludicrous kind of waddle, 
which made me ask Bombay if anything serious was the mat- 
ter with the royal person. " 

Speke stayed long enough in Uganda to become thoroughly 
well acquainted with the customs of the people. Under date 
of March 25, 1862, he says: 

*'I have now been for some time within the court precincts, 
and have consequently had an opportunity of witnessing court 
customs. Among these, nearly every day since I have changed 
my residence, incredible as it may appear to be, I have seen 
one, two, or three of the wretched palace women led away to 
execution, tied by the hand, and dragged along by one of the 
body-guard, crying out, as she went to premature death, ^Hai 
minange ! ' (Oh, my lord ! ) 'Khakka I ' (My king 1 ) 'Hain'yawo /' 
(My mother!) at the top of her voice, in the utmost despair 
and lamentation ; and yet there was not a soul who dared lift 
his hand to save any of them, though many might be heard 
privately commenting on their beauty." 

On the arrival of Captain Grant, the queen-dowager, with 
whom Captain Speke was already very well acquainted, desired 
that the new-comer should be presented to her. Speke com- 
plied with this demand, representing Grant as his brother. 
Her majesty persistently ignored his claim that they were of 
one house, but finally gave up her attempt to extort a separate 
present from Grant. 

For more than four months after Speke's first arrival at the 
capital of Uganda, Mtesa had resisted every argument and in- 
ducement to permit him to continue his j ourney northward . Fi- 
nally, however, he became intensely jealous of Rumanika, and 
declared that he would show his rival that all the supplies for 
Uganda need not come through his country. If another route 
were opened, these mighty strangers would come direct to 
him ; and he therefore promised these travelers that he would 
furnish them with guides to Unyore and with boats for a voy- 
age on the Nile. 

The promise was accepted without delay, and the king was 
resolutely held to it. Setting out from the capital, they de- 
termined to separate. Grant going forward with the main 
body of the caravan to King Kamrasi's capital, while Speke 
skirted the borders of the lake until he should come upon the 



BY BURTON, SPEKE AND GRANT. 



191 



Nile, flowing out of it. This latter intention was realized two 
days after their separation, July 19, 1862. 

"Here at last I stood on the brink of the Nile ! Most beau- 
tiful w^as the scene, nothing could surpass it. It was the very 
perfection of the effect aimed at in a highly kept park ; with a 
magnificent stream from six hundred to seven hundred yards 
wide, dotted with islets and rocks, the former occupied by 
fishermen's huts, the latter by sterns and crocodiles basking in 
the sufi, flowing between fine high grassy banks, with rich 
trees and plantains in the back-ground, where herds of the 
n'sunnu and the hartebeest could be seen grazing, while the 
hippopotami were snorting in the water, and florikan and 
guinea-fowl rising at our feet." 




A Queen Dragged to Execution. 

They marched along the left bank of the Nile, at some little 
distance from the river, through a country rich in many forms 
of vegetable and animal life. They reached the Isamba Rap- 
ids on the 25th, Ripon Falls on the 28th of the month; but 
paused only a short time at either place. Here we have come to 
the point where the results, of the expedition may be summed 
up, in the Avords of its leader: 

" The expedition had now performed its functions. I saw 
that old Father Nile without any doubt rises in the Victoria 
Nyanza, and, as I had foretold, that lake is the great source 
of the holy river which cradled the first expounder of our be- 
lief. * * * I had seen full half of the lake, and had infor- 
mation given me of the other half, by means of which I kne\y 



SEAKCH FOR THE NILE SOURCES. 193 

all about the lake, as far, at least, as the chief objects of geo- 
graphical importance are concerned. 

"Let us now sum up the whole and see what it is worth. 
Comparative information assured me that there was as much 
water on the eastern side of the lake as there is on the west- 
ern — if anything, rather more. The most remote waters, or 
top head of the Nile, is the southern end of the lake, situated 
close on the third degree of south latitude, which gives to 
the Nile the surprising length, in direct measurement, rolling 
over thirty-four degrees of latitude, of above 2,300 miles, or 
more than one-eleventh of the circumference of our globe. 
Now from this southern point, round by the west, to where 
the great Nile stream issues, there is only one feeder of any 
importance, and that is the Kitangule Eiver; while from the 
southernmost point, round by the east, to the strait, there 
are no rivers at all of any importance ; for the traveled Arabs 
one and all aver that from the west of the snow-clad Kilimand- 
jaro to the lake where it is cut by the second degree, and also 
the first degree of south latitude, there are salt lakes and salt 
plains, and the country is hilly, not unlike Unyamuezij but 
they said there were no great rivers, and the country was so 
scantily watered, having only occasional runnels and rivulets, 
that they always had to make long marches in order to find 
water when they went on their trading journeys; and farther, 
those Arabs who crossed the strait when they reached Usoga, 
as mentioned before, during the late interregnum, crossed no 
river either. ' ' 

Eeturning to the point at which he had first struck the Nile, 
Speke and his party fashioned five boats out of five planks 
each, bound and caulked with mbugu rags. His destination 
was Unyoro, the country of Kamrasi, to whom messages re- 
garding him had been sent by Mtesa. They arrived here Sep- 
tember 4, and found "the worst royal residence since leaving 
Uzinza." They were lodged in dirty huts at some distance 
from the palace ; and for several days the king was to'o drunk 
to entertain any complaints about their lodging. 

At length, however, he "sobered up,'^ and received the 
message that they wished to see him. No answer was received ; 
and Speke sent another messenger to say that if his majesty 
did not receive them, they would cut off their hair and blacken 
their faces, so that he would no longer be afraid of them, for 
fear must be the reason why he had delayed so long. " This 
message acted like magic ; for he fully believed that we would 
do as we said, and disappoint him altogether of the sight* of 



SEARCH rOR THE NILE SOURCES. 195 

US as pure white men. The reply was, Kamrasi would not 
have us disfigured in this way for all the world ; men were 
appointed to convey our traps to the west end at once; and 
Kidgwiga, Vittagura and Kajunju rushed over to give us the 
news in all haste, lest we should execute our threat, and they 
were glad to find us with our faces unchanged." This terrible 
danger being averted, Kamrasi received them very graciously, 
and showed himself, when sober, friendly enough to accept 
presents. He was particularly impressed with Speke's exposi- 
tion of the account of the Ethiopians found in the Bible ; but 
could not resist the temptation, when the book w^as put in his 
hands, of counting the leaves. Concluding that each one 
represented a year since the creation, he was anxious to ascer- 
tain how old the world might be considered ; but his patience 
gave out when he had counted about one quarter. 

Kamrasi demanded, on the very first interview, a many- 
bladed knife of which his ofiicers had told him. Only a few 
days more, and he decided that he wished to have a chronom- 
eter, which the explorers valued at about fifty pounds sterling. 
Speke explained that he needed this — to tell him when it was 
time to eat his meals, among other things. Whereupon Kam- 
rasi generously offered to send it to him, three times a day, 
that he might know. Told something of the value of the 
article, he concluded that it must possess magic powers, since 
no one in his senses would give five hundred cows simply to be 
told when to eat his dinner. Evidently, in Unyoro, time is 
not money. 

The whole autumn and almost all of the winter were con- 
sumed in the journey down the Nile, from Unyoro to Gondo- 
koro. They reached the latter point on the fifteenth of Feb- 
ruary, and here had the pleasant surprise of meeting Samuel 
White Baker, who had not yet earned the title by which he is 
better known, and who had come up this far with three com- 
pletely equipped vessels, to search for the explorers, or to 
learn where an.d how they had perished. Their difiiculties 
were substantially at an end; and although the journey down 
to Alexandria was not without adventure, such experiences 
pale into insignificance when compared to those through 
which they had pre^dously passed. 

A few of those who had been employed as attendants when 
the expedition left Zanzibar remained faithful to the end, and 
accompanied Speke down the river. They numbered eighteen 
men, besides Bombay, the trusted servitor who had accom- 
panied Burton and Speke on their first expedition, and who 
13 



SEARCH FOR THE NILE SOURCES. 197 

was appointed captain of the "Faithfuls." They Avere suit- 
ably rewarded for their fidelity, receiving a year's pay in ad- 
dition to their regular earnings, an order for a grand freeman's 
garden to be established for their benefit at Zanzibar, and an 
order for a dowry of ten dollars for the bride of each, when 
she should be selected. 

Let us again review, with Speke, the information which had 
been gained by the expedition, this time with respect to the 
afi[iuents of the Nile : 

" The first afiiuent, the Bahrel Ghazal, took us by surprise; 
for, instead of finding a huge lake, as described in our maps, 
at an elbow of the Nile, we found only a small piece of water 
resembling a duck-pond buried in a sea of rushes. The old 
Nile swept through it with majestic grace, and carried us next 
to the Geraffe branch of the Sobat River, the second afiiuent, 
which we found flowing into the Nile with a graceful semicir- 
cular sweep and good stiff current, apparently deep, but not 
more than fifty yards broad. 

" Next in order came the main stream of the Sobat, flowing 
into the Nile in the same graceful way as the Geraffe, which in 
breadth it surpassed, but in velocity of current was inferior. 
The Nile by these additions was greatly increased ; still, it did 
not assume that noble appearance which astonished us so 
much, immediately after the rainy season, when we were navi- 
gating it in canoes in Unyoro. 

"Next to be treated of is the famous Blue Nile, which we 
found a miserable river, even when compared with the Geraffe 
branch of the Sobat. It is very broad at the mouth, it is true ; 
but so shallow that our vessel was with difliculty able to come 
up to it. It had all the appearance of a mountain stream, 
subject to great periodical fluctuations. I was never more dis- 
appointed than with this river ; if the White River was cut off 
from it, its waters would all be absorbed before they could 
reach Lower Egypt. 

" I had now seen quite enough to satisfy me that the White 
River which issues from Nyanza at the Ripon Falls is the true 
or parent Nile ; for in every instance of its branching, it car- 
ried the palm with it in the distinctest manner, viewed, as all 
the streams were by me, in the dry season, Avhich is the best 
for estimating their relative perennial values. " 

The discoverers were received with great honors at home ; 
nor was their own country the only one which recognized the 
value of their services to science. In addition to the gold 
medal which the Royal Geographical Society conferred upon 



198 SEAECH FOR THE NILE SOURCES. 

each of them, the king of Italy forwarded similar tributes : 
France had, at the end of the previous expedition, recognized 
the services of Captains Burton and Speke by gifts of the 
same nature. 

It forms a singular parallel to the case of Bruce, that Speke 
should have passed through the dangers of an African explor- 
ing expedition, and yet die by accident at home. Going out 
for a day's shooting in September, 1864, he accidentally wound- 
ed himself in such a manner that he died from the efects of 
it. 



CHAPTER X. 



llJ 



SIR SAMUEL W. BAKER AJfD HIS HEROIC LADY, 

'E have already spoken of the meeting between Captain 
Speke and his friend Mr. Baker; it remains to trace 
the journey of the latter to that far-off point on the 
Nile where they met; then to follow the footsteps of 
the later explorer on other expeditions. 

Mr. Baker had heard so much of explorers being hampered 
by the instructions which were given them, and the unsuita- 
bility of the stores which were in some cases provided against 
their protests, that he determined to risk failure from no such 
causes. He intended to venture upon an African exploring 
tour; but everything should be as he wished it; the sole 
glory, if glory there were, should be his; if he failed, none 
should have the right to criticise his actions. In short, he de- 
termined to pay the whole cost of the expedition himself. 

At Cairo, he met with a new traveling companion, who 
proved to be of much service to him, assisting him in keeping 
his scientific records, and filling many other ofiices, such as 
most African explorers can only dream of. This was a young 
Swedish lady, whom he married shortly before leaving Cairo, 
and who insisted upon sharing his dangerous journey. Clear- 
headed, courageous, and of decision which quickly manifested 
itself in action when emergency required, few women could 
have performed the duties which she took upon herself, and 
which she did so well. 

The expedition left Cairo in April, 1861 ; about half a year 
after Speke had left Zanzibar. That it had only reached Gon- 
dokoro by the time that Speke and Grant arrived there, by a 
much longer and more diflacult route, is explained by the fact 
that Mr. Baker found it would be necessary, before proceed- 
ing very far, to acquire a knowledge of the Arabic. He accord- 
inglv spent a vear in exploring the Atbara and the Blue Nile, 

199 



200 



SIR SAMUEL W. BAKER AND HIS HEROIC LADY. 



and in the study of this tongue. June 11, 1862, he was at 
Khartoom, armed with a sufficient knowledge of Arabic to 
carry him through his intercourse with the native tribes, and 
ready to prosecute his journey up the White Nile. 




Sir Samuel White Baker. 

Some incidents of the journey may well be repeated here, as 
showing the character of the country through which they 
passed, and giving some idea of the fauna of the region. 
These incidents are best told in Baker's own words, prefaced 



SIR SAMUEL W. BAKER AND HIS HEROIC LADY. 



201 



only by such brief explanation as may be necessary to show 
the circumstances which are supplied, in the original work, by 
the natural course of the narrative. 

Passing over the long journeys through the desert, we take 




Lady Baker. 



up the narrative at the time when they were engaged in explor- 
ing the Atbara ; and follow their fortunes as rhinoceros hunt- 
ers. The following account is in the words of Baker, although 
some unnecessary statements are omitted to save space ; 



202 SIR SAMUEL W. BAKER AND HIS HEROIC LADY. 

"We were returning home through alternate plains and low 
open forests of mimosa, when Taher Sherif , who was leading 
the party, suddenly reined up his horse, and pointed to a thick 
bush, beneath which was a large gray but shapeless mass. He 
whispered, as I drew near, ' Oom gurriniP (* mother of the 
horn,' i. e., rhinoceros). I immediatety dismounted, and ad- 
vanced as near as I could. As I drew near, I discovered two 
rhinoceros asleep beneath a thick mass of bushes ; they were 
lying like pigs, close together, so that at a distance I was un- 
able to distinguish any exact form. I was compelled to advance 
with the wind direct from me to them ; they were suddenly 
disturbed by the scent of an enemy; for without the least 
warning they sprang to their feet with astonishing quickness, 
and with a loud and sharp whiff, whiff, whiff, one of them 
charged straight at me. I fired my right-hand barrel in his 
throat, as it was useless to aim at the head protected by two 
horns at the nose. This turned him, but had no other effect, 
and the two animals thundered off together at a tremendous 
pace. 

" Without waiting to reload, I quickly remounted my horse 
Tetel, and with Suleiman in company, I spurred hard to over- 
take the flying Arabs. The ground was awkward for riding 
at full speed, as it was an open forest of mimosas, which, 
although wide apart, are very difficult to avoid, owing to the 
low crowns of spreading branches; these, being armed like 
fish-hook thorns, would have been serious on a collision. I 
kept the party in view, until in about a mile we arrived upon 
open ground. Here I again applied the spurs, and by degrees 
I crept up, always gaining, until at length I joined the aggag- 
eers. 

"The two rhinoceros were running neck and neck, like a 
pair of horses in harness, but bounding along at tremendous 
speed within ten yards of Taher Sherif, who, with his sword 
drawn, and his long hair flying wildly behind him, urged his 
horse forward in the race, amidst a cloud of dust raised by the 
two huge but active beasts, that tried every sinew in the horses. 
Roder Sherif was second; Abou Do was third. There were 
seven of us ; and passing Abou Do, whose face wore an expression 
of agony at finding that his horse was failing, I quickly ob- 
tained a place between the two brothers, Taher and Roder 
Sherif. There had been a jealousy between the two parties of 
aggageers, each striving to outdo the other; thus Abou Do was 
driven almost to madness at the superiority of Taher's horse, 
while the latter, who was the renowned hunter of the tribe, 



SIR SAMUEL W. BAKER AND HIS HEROIC LADY. 203 

was determined that his sword should be the first to taste 
blood. I tried to pass the rhinoceros on my left, so as to fire 
close into the shoulder my remaining barrel with my right 
hand, but it was impossible to overtake the animals, who 
bounded along with undiminished speed. With the greatest 
exertion of men and horses we could only retain our positions 
within about three or four yards of their tails — just out of 
reach of the swords. The only chance in the race was to hold 
the pace until the rhinoceros should begin to flag. The horses 
were pressed to the utmost ; but we had already run about two 
miles, and the game showed no signs of giving in. At length 
the party began to tail off, and only a select few kept their 
places. We arrived at the summit of a ridge, from which the 
ground sloped in a gentle inclination for about a mile toward 
the river; at the foot of this incline was thick thorny nabbuk 
jungle, for which impenetrable covert the rhinoceros pressed 
at their utmost speed. Never was there better ground for the 
finish of a race ; the earth was sandy, but firm ; and as we saw 
the winning-post in the jungle that must terminate the hunt, 
we redoubled our exertions to close with the unflagging game. 
Suleiman's horse gave in — we had been for about twenty min- 
utes at a killing pace. Tetel, although not a fast horse, was 
good for a distance, and he now proved his power of endur- 
ance. Only four of the seven remained, and we swept down 
the incline, Taher Sherif still leading, and Abou Do the last! 
His horse was done, but not the rider; for springing to the 
ground while at full speed, sword in hand, he forsook his tired 
horse, and, preferring his own legs, he ran like an antelope, 
and for the first hundred yards I thought he would really pass 
us, and win the honor of first blow. It was of no use ; the 
pace was too severe, and, although running wonderfully, he 
was obliged to give way to the horses. Only three now fol- 
lowed the rhinoceros. The excitement was intense — we near- 
ed the jungle, and the rhinoceros began to show signs of flag- 
ging, as the dust puffed up before their nostrils, and with 
noses close to the ground, they snorted as they still galloped on. 
Oh for a fresh horse ! ' A horse ! a horse ! my kingdom for a 
horse!' We were within two hundred yards of the jungle; 
but the horses were all done. Tetel reeled as I urged him for- 
ward, Roder pushed ahead ; we were close to the dense thorns, 
and the rhinoceros broke into a trot ; they were done ! * Now, 
Taher, f or-r-a-a-r-r-d ! f or-r-a-a-r-r-d, Taher ! ' Away he went — 
he was close to the very heels of the beasts ; but his horse could 
do no more than his present pace ; still he gained upon the 



SIR SAMUEL AV. BAKER AND HIS HEROIC LABY. 205 

nearest ; he leaned forward with his sword raised for the blow — 

another moment, and the jungle would be reached ! One effort 
more, and the sword flashed in the sunshine, as the rearmost 
rhinoceros disappeared in the thick screen of thorns, with a 
gash about a foot long upon his hind-quarters. Taher Sherif 
shook his bloody sword in triumph above his head; but the 
rhinoceros was gone. VTe were fairly beaten, regularly out- 
paced; * * * he had ridden splendidly, and his blow had 
been marvelously delivered at an extremely long reach, as he 
was nearly out of his saddle when he sprang forward to enable 
the blade to obtain a cut at the last moment. He could not 
reach the hamstring, as his horse could not gain the proper 
position. * * * Q'lie other aggageers shortly arrived, and 
as the rival xlbou Do joined us, Taher Sherif quietly wiped the 
blood off his sword without making a remark; this was a bitter 
moment for the discomfited Abou Do." 

It is exciting enough to chase a rhinoceros, as the above ex- 
tract will prove to the inexperienced reader; but it is even 
more exciting to be chased by a rhinoceros. Here is what 
Baker says about such an unpleasant experience : 

" We were passing through a mass of kittar or thorn-bush, 
almost hidden by the immensely high grass, when, as I was 
ahead of the party, I came suddenly upon the tracks of rhi- 
noceros. These were so unmistakably recent that I felt sure 
we were not far from the animals themselves. As I had wish- 
ed to lire the grass, I was accompanied by my Tokrooris, and 
my horsekeeper, Mohammed. It was difficult ground for the 
men, and still more unfavorable for the horses, as large dis- 
jointed masses of stone were concealed in the high grass. 

"We were just speculating as to the position of the rhinoc- 
eros, and thinking how uncommonly unpleasant it would be 
should he obtain our wind, when whiff ! whiff ! whiff ! We 
heard the sharp whistling snort, with a tremendous rush 
through the high grass and thorns close to us; and at the same 
moment two of these determined brutes were upon us in full 
charge. I never saw such a scrimmage; sauve qui pent! Tfhere 
was no time for more than one look behind. I dug the spurs 
into Aggahr's flanks, and clasping him round the neck, I ducked 
my head down to the shoulder, well protected with my strong 
hunting-cap, and I kept the spurs going as hard as I could ply 
them, blindly trusting to Providence and my good horse, over 
big rocks, fallen trees, thick kittar thorns, and grass ten feet 
high, with the two infernal animals in full chase only a few 
feet behind me. I heard their abominable whiffin^^ close to 



206 SIR SAMUEL W. BAKER AND HIS HEROIC LADY. 

me, but so did the good horse also, and the good old hunter 
flew over obstacles that I should have thought impossible, and 
he dashed straight under the hooked thorn bushes and doubled 
like a hare. The aggageers were all scattered; Mohammed 
was knocked over by a rhinoceros; all the men were sprawling 
upon the rocks with their guns, and the party was entirely dis- 
comfited. Having passed the kittar thorn, I turned, and see- 
ing that the beasts had gone straight on, I brought Aggahr's 
head round, and tried to give chase; but it was perfectly im- 
possible ; it was only a wonder that the horse had escaped in 
ground so difficult for riding. Although my clothes were of 
the coarsest and strongest Arab cotton cloth, which seldom 
tore, but simply lost a thread when caught in a- thorn, I was 
nearly naked. * * * * All the men were cut and bruised, 
some having fallen on their heads among the rocks, and others 
had hurt their legs in falling in their endeavors to escape. 
Mohammed was more frightened than hurt, as he had been 
knocked down by the shoulder and not by the horn of the rhi- 
noceros, as the animal had not noticed him; its attention was 
absorbed by the horse. 

Let us now follow through the excitement of an elephant 
hunt the same party that chased the rhinoceros : 

"We had ridden about a mile, and were beginning to de- 
spair, when suddenly we turned a sharp angle in the water- 
course, and Taher Sherif, who was leading, immediately 
reined in his horse, and backed him towards the party. I fol- 
lowed his example, and we were at once concealed by the 
sharp bend of the river. He now whispered, that a bull 
elephant was drinking from a hole it had scooped in the sand, 
not far from the corner. Without the slightest confusion, the 
hunters at once fell quietly into their respective places, Taher 
Sherif leading, while I followed closely in the line, with my 
Tokrooris bringing up the rear; we were a party of seven 
horses. 

"Upon turning the corner, we at once perceived the 
elephant, that was still drinking. It was a fine bull; the 
enormous ears were thrown forward, as the head was lowered 
in the act of drawing the water up through the trunk ; these 
shaded the eyes, and with the wind favorable, we advanced 
noiselessly upon the sand to within twenty yards before we 
were perceived. The elephant then threw up its head, and 
with the ears flapping forward, it raised its trunk for an in- 
stant, and then slowly, but easily, ascended the steep bank and 
retreated. The aggageers n*ow halted for about a minute to 



SIR SAMUEL W. BAKER AND HIS HEROIC LADY. 207 

confer together, and then followed in their original order up 
the crumbled bank. We were now on most unfavorablis 
ground; the fire that had cleared the country we had hitherto 
traversed had been stopped by the bed of the torrent. We 
were thus plunged into withered grass above our heads, unless 
we stood in the stirrups ; the ground was strewed with frag- 
ments of rock, and altogether it was ill adapted for riding. 
However, Taher Sherif broke into a trot, followed by the en- 
tire party, as the elephant was not in sight. We ascended a 
hill, and when near the summit, we perceived the elephant 
about eighty yards ahead. It was looking behind during its 
retreat, by swinging its huge head from side to side ; and upon 
seeing us approach, it turned suddenly around and halted. 
' Be ready, and take care of the rocks ! ' said Taher Sherif, as 
I rode forward by his side. Hardly had he uttered these 
words of caution, when the bull gave a vicious jerk with its 
head, and with a shrill scream it charged down upon us with 
the greatest fury. Away we all went, helter-skelter, through 
the dry grass, which whistled in my ears, over the hidden 
rocks, at full gallop, w^ith the elephant tearing after us for 
about a hundred and eighty yards at a tremendous pace. Tetel 
was a sure-footed horse, and being unshod, he never slipped 
upon the stones. Thus, as we all scattered in different direc- 
tions, the elephant became confused, and relinquished the 
chase; it had been very near me at one time, and in such 
ground I was not sorry when it gave up the hunt. We now 
quickly united, and again followed the elephant, that had once 
more retreated. Advancing at a canter, we shortly came in 
view. Upon seeing the horses, the bull deliberately entered a 
stronghold composed of rocky and uneven ground, in the clefts 
of which grew thinly a few leafless trees, the thickness of a 
man's leg. It then turned boldly toward us, and stood deter- 
minedly at bay. 

"Now came the tug of war! Taher Sherif came close to 
me and said : 

** 'You had better shoot the elephant, as we shall have great 
difficulty in this rocky ground. ' 

** This I declined, as I wished to end the fight as it had been 
commenced, with the sword; and I proposed that he should 
endeavor to drive the animal to more favorable ground. 

*' 'Never mind,' replied Taher, ' LishallahXv^ease God) he 
shall not beat us.' 

"He now advised me to keep as close to him as possible, and 
to look sharp for a charge. The elephant stood facing us like 



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iiiji'i 



SIR SAMUEL W. BAKER AND HIS HEROIC LADY. 209 

a statue ; it did not move a muscle beyond a quick and restless 
action of the eyes, that were watching all sides. Taher Sherif 
and his youngest brother Ibrahim now separated, and each 
took opposite sides of the elephant, and then joined each other 
about twenty yards behind it ; I accompanied them until Taher 
advised me to keep about the same distance upon the left 
flank. My Tokrooris kept aloof from the scene, as they were 
not required. In front of the elephant were two aggageers, 
one of whom was the renowned Roder Sherif with the withered 
arm. All being ready for action, Roder now rode slowly to- 
wards the head of the cunning old bull, who was quietly waiting 
an opportunity to make certain of some one who might give 
him a good chance. 

*'Roder Sherif rode a bay mare, that, having been thor- 
oughly trained to these encounters, was perfect at her work. 
Slowly and coolly she advanced towards her wary antagonist, 
until within about eight or nine yards of the elephant's head; 
the creature never moved, and the mise en scene was beautiful; 
not a word was spoken, and we kept our places amidst utter 
stillness, which was at length broken by a snort from the 
mare, who gazed intently at the elephant, as though watching 
for the moment of attack. One more pace forward, and Ro- 
der sat coolly upon his mare, with his eyes fixed upon those of 
the elephant. For an instant I saw the white of the eye near- 
est to me. 

*' 'Look out, Roder! He's coming!' I exclaimed. 

'* With a shrill scream, the elephant dashed upon him like 
an avalanche ! Round went the mare as though on a pivot, 
and away, over rocks and stones, flying like a gazelle, with the 
monkey-like form of little Roder Sherif leaning forward, and 
looking over his left shoulder as the elephant rushed after 
him. For a moment I thought he must be caught. Had the 
mare stumbled, all were lost; but she gained in the race after 
a few quick bounding strides, and Roder, still looking behind 
him, kept his distance so close to the elephant that its out- 
stretched trunk was within a few feet of the mare's tail. 

*' Taher Sherif and his brother Ibrahim swept down like 
falcons in the rear. In full speed they dexterously avoided 
the trees, until they arrived upon open ground, when they 
dashed up close to the hind-quarters of the furious elephant, 
who, maddened with the excitement, heeded nothing but 
Roder and his mare, that were almost within its grasp. When 
close to the tail of the elephant, Taher Sherif 's sword flashed 
from its sheath, as grasping his trusty blade he leaped 



SIR SAMUEL W. BAKER AND HIS HEROIC LADY. 211 

nimbly to the ground, while Ibrahim caught the reins of his 
horse; two or three bounds on foot, with the sword clutched 
in both hands, and he was close behind the elephant; a bright 
glance shone like lightning, as the sun struck upon the descend- 
ing steel; this was followed by a dull crack, as the sword cut 
through skin and sinews, and settled deep in the bone, about 
twelve inches above the foot. At the next stride, the elephant 
halted dead short in the midst of its tremendous charge. 
Taher had jumped quickly on one side, and had vaulted into the 
saddle with his naked sword in hand. At the same moment, 
R^der, who had led the chase, turned sharp around, and again 
faced the elephant as before ; stooping quickly from the sad- 
dle, he picked up from the ground a handful of dirt, which he 
threw into the face of the vicious looking animal, that once 
more attempted to rush upon him. It was impossible ! The 
foot was dislocated, and turned up in front like an old shoe. 
In an instant Taher was once more on foot, and again the 
sharp sword slashed the remaining leg. The great bull ele- 
phant could not move ; the first cut with the sword had utterly 
disabled it; the second was its death-blow; the arteries of the 
leg were divided, and the blood spouted in jets from the wounds. 
I wished to terminate its misery by a bullet behind the ear, but 
Taher Sherif begged me not to fire, as the elephant would 
quickly bleed to death without pain, and an unnecessary shot 
would attract the Base, who would steal the flesh and ivory dur- 
ing our absence. We were obliged to return immediately to our 
far distant camp, and the hunters resolved to accompany their 
camels to the spot on the following day. We turned our 
horses' heads and rode direct toward home, which we did not 
reach till nearly midnight, having ridden upwards of sixty 
miles during the day. ****** 

" On the following day, the hunters started towards the dead 
elephant with camels and sacks, but they returned at night 
thoroughly disgusted; the nimble Base had been before them, 
most probably attracted to the carcass by the cloud of vultures 
that had gathered in the air. Nothing remained but the bones 
and the skull of the elephant; the flesh and the ivory had been 
stolen. The tracks of a great number of men had been left 
upon the ground, and the aggageers were fortunate to return 
•without an attack from overwhelming numbers." 

But it is not enough that we follow the explorer through his 
hunting adventures. Let us be with him as he looks for the 
first time upon some of the wonders of Nature. Here is his 
description of the whirlpool at the Royan Junction ; 
14. 



SIR SAMUEL W. BAKER AND HIS HEROIC LADY. 213 

"The entire course of the Royan was extremely rapid, but 
at this extremity it entered a rocky pass between two hills, and 
leapt in a succession of grand falls into a circular basin of 
about four hundred yards diameter. This peculiar basin was 
surrounded by high cliffs, covered with trees; to the left was 
an island formed by a rock about sixty feet high ; at the foot 
was a deep and narrow gorge through which the Settite River 
made its exit from the circle. This large river entered the 
basin through a rocky gap, at right angles with the rush of 
waters from the great falls of the Royan, and as both streams 
issued from gorges which accelerated their velocity to the 
highest degree, their junction formed a tremendous whirlpool ; 
thus, the basin which was now dry, with the exception of the 
single contracted stream of the Settite, was in the rainy season 
a most frightful scene of giddy waters. The sides of this basin 
were, for about fifty feet from the bottom, sheeted with white 
sand which had been left there by the centrifugal force of the 
revolving waters ; the funnel-shaped reservoir had its greatest 
depth beneath the mass of rock that formed a barrier before 
the mouth of the exit. From the appearance of the high- 
water mark upon the rock, it was easy to ascertain the approxi- 
mate depth when the flood was at its maximum." 

This whirlpool is in north latitude fourteen degrees, fifteen 
minutes, and east longitude thirty-six degrees, fifty-five min- 
utes. The Royan is a small stream, not laid down upon most 
maps, which flows into the Settite, itself one of the rivers 
which unite to form the Atbara. Let us follow through one 
more hunting adventure, and then briefly sum up the results 
attained by this journey. The scene is a point on the Atbara, 
nearly due southwest of the whirlpool just described: 

" I had been observing the country for some time from my 
high station, when I suddenly perceived,two rhinoceros emerge 
from a ravine ; they walked slowly through a patch of high 
grass, and skirted the base of the hill on which we were stand- 
ing; presently they winded something and they trotted back 
and stood concealed in the patch of grass. Although I had a good 
view of them from my present position, I knew that I should not 
be able to see them on their covert, if on the same level; I 
therefore determined to send to the tent for my other horses, 
and to ride them down, if I could not shoot them on foot; ac- 
cordingly, I sent a man off, directing him to lead Tetel from 
the peak, and to secure him to a tree at the foot of the hill, as 
I was afraid the rhinoceros might observe the horse upon the 
sky line. This he iiid, and we saw the man tie the horse by 



SIR SAMUEL W. BAKER AND HIS HEROIC LADY. 215 

the bridle to the branch of a tree below us, while he ran 
quickly towards the camp. In the mean time I watched the 
rhinoceros; both animals lay down in the yellow grass, resemb- 
ling masses of stone. They had not been long in this position, 
before we noticed two pigs wandering through the grass 
directly to windward, towards the sleeping rhinoceros ; in an 
instant these animals winded the intruders, and, starting up, 
they looked in all directions, but could not see them, as they 
were concealed by the high grass. Having been thus disturbed, 
the rhinoceros moved their quarters, and walked slowly for- 
ward, occasionally halting, and listening; one was about a 
hundred yards in advance of the other. They were taking a 
direction at the base of the hill that would lead them directly 
upon the spot where Tetel was tied to the tree. I observed 
this to Taher Noor, as I feared they would kill the horse. 

*' ' Oh, no,' he replied, 'they will lie down and sleep beneath 
the first tree, as they are seeking for shade — ^the sun is like 
fire.' 

'* However, they still continued their advance, and upon 
reaching some rising ground, the leading rhinoceros halted, 
and I felt sure he had a clear view of the horse, that was now 
about five hundred yards distant, tied to the tree. A ridge 
descended from the hill, parallel with the course the animals 
were taking; upon this, I ran as quickly as the stony slope 
permitted, keeping my eye fixed upon the leading rhinoceros, 
who, with his head raised, was advancing directly toward 
Tetel. I now felt convinced that he intended an attack. 
Tetel did not observe the rhinoceros, but was quietly standing 
beneath the tree. I ran as fast as I was able, and reached the 
bottom of the hill just as the wilful brute was within fifty 
yards of the horse, which now for the first time saw the ap- 
proaching danger; the rhinoceros had been advancing steadily 
at a walk, but he now lowered his head, and charged the 
horse at full speed. 

*'I was about two hundred yards distant, and for the 
moment I was afraid of shooting the horse, but I fired one of 
the Reilly No. 10 rifles; the bullet, missing the rhinoceros, 
dashed the sand and stones into his face, as it struck the 
ground exactly before his nose, when he appeared to be just 
into the unfortunate Tetel. The horse in the same instant 
reared, and breaking the bridle, it dashed away in the direc- 
tion of the camp, while the rhinoceros, astonished at the shot, 
and most likely half blinded by the sand and splinters of rock, 
turned round, and trotted back upon the track by which he 



^16 SIR SAMUEL W. BAKER AND HIS HEROIC LADY. 

had arrived. He passed me at about a hundred yards dis- 
tance, as I had run forward to a bush, by which he trotted 
with his head raised, seeking for the cause of his discomfiture. 
Crack! went a bullet against his hide, as I fired my remaining 
barrel at his shoulder; he cocked his tail, and for a few yards 
he charged towards the shot; but he suddenly changed his 
course, and ran round several times in a small circle; he then 
halted, and reeling to and fro, he retreated very slowly, and 
lay down about a hundred yards off. Well done, Eeilly! I 
knew that he had had his quietus, but I was determined to 
bag his companion, who in alarm had now joined him, and 
stood looking in all quarters for the source of danger; but we 
were well concealed behmd the bush. Presently the wounded 
rhinoceros stood up, and walking very slowly, followed by 
his comrade, he crossed a portion of rising ground at the base 
of the hill, and both animals disappeared. * * * * * I 
waited a long time, until at length the two grays, Aggahr and 
Gazelle, arrived with my messenger from the camp. I tight- 
ened the girths of the saddle upon Aggahr, and had just 
mounted, when my eyes were gladdened by the sight of Has- 
san cantering toward me on Tetel, but from the exact direc- 
tion the rhinoceros had taken. 

"'Quick, quick!' he cried; 'come along! One rhinoceros 
is lying dead close by, and the other is standing under a tree 
not far off.' 

"I immediately jumped on Tetel, and taking the little 
Fletcher rifle, as lighter and handier than the heavy No. 10, I 
ordered Taher Noor and Hassan to mount the other horses, and 
to follow me with spare rifles. I found the rhinoceros lying 
dead about two hundred yards from the spot where he had re- 
ceived the shot, and I immediately perceived the companion, 
that w^as standing beneath the small tree. The ground was firm 
and stony, all the grass had been burnt off, except in a few 
small patches ; the trees were not so thick together as to form 
a regular jungle. 

" The rhinoceros saw us directly, and he valiantly stood and 
faced me as I rode up within fifty yards of him. * * * I was 
unable to take a shot in this position, therefore I ordered the 
men to ride round in a half-circle, as I knew the rhinoceros 
would turn towards the white horses; and thus expose his 
flank; this he did immediately; and firing well, and right at 
the shoulder, I dropped him as though stone dead. * * The 
rhinoceros lay kicking upon the ground, and I thought he was 
bagged. But the bullet had not force to break the massive 



SIR SAMUEL W. BAKER AXD HIS HEROIC LADY. 217 

shoulder bone, but had merely paralyzed it for a moment; up 
he jumped, and started off in full gallop. * * * Spurring hard, 
I shot up to him at full speed until within twenty yards, when 
round he came with astonishing swiftness, and charged straight 
at the horse. I was prepared for this, as w^as my horse also; 
we avoided him by a quick turn, and again renewed the chase. 
* * * Thus the hunt continued for about a mile and a half, 
the rhinoceros occasionally charging, but always cleverly 
avoided by the horse. * * * The pace began to tell upon 
his wounded shoulder; he evidently went lame, and I felt that 
it would shortly be a case of " stand still." In this I was cor- 
rect, and, upon reaching the deep and crumbling soil, he 
turned sharp round, made a clumsy charge that I easily 
avoided, and he stood panting at bay. Taher Noor was riding 
Gazelle; this was a very timid horse, and useless as a hunter, 
but, as it reared and plunged upon seeing the rhinoceros, that 
animal immediately turned towards it Avith the intention of 
charging. Riding Tetel close to his flank, I fired both barrels 
of the little Fletcher into his shoulder; he fell to the shots; 
and stretching out his legs convulsively, he died immedi- 
ately." 

Baker explored thoroughly, during the course of this ex- 
pedition, the whole country drained by the Blue Nile, through 
which Bruce had passed more than a half century before. 
But the earlier traveler could not do more than find the 
fountains of the stream ; the later explorer traced its whole 
course, and that of the kindred river, the Atbara. Thus, 
when he met Speke and Grant, with their records of the great 
Lake from which the White Nile flows, the three were ready 
to teach the world the geography of the Nile. 

A brief description of that meeting, to which allusion has 
been made at the close of the last chapter, will not be out of 
place here. As usual, we give the words of the explorer him- 
self: 

'' When I first met them [Speke and Grant] they were walk- 
ing along the bank of the river towards my boats. At a distance 
of about a hundred yards I recognized my old friend Speke, 
and w^ith a heart beating with joy I took off my cap and gave 
a welcome hurrah ! as I ran towards him. For the moment 
he did not recognize me; ten years' growth of beard and 
moustache had worked a change ; and as I was totally unex- 
pected, my sudden appearance in the center of Africa appear- 
ed to him incredible. I hardly required an introduction to his 
companion, as we felt already acquainted, and after the trans- 



218 SIR SAMUEL AV. BAKER AND ttIS HEROIC LADY. 

ports of this happy meeting we walked together to my diah- 
biah, my men surrounding us with smoke and noise by keeping 
up an un intermitting fire of musketry the whole way. We were 
shortly seated on deck under the awning, and such rough fare 
as could be hastily prepared w^as set before these two ragged, 
careworn specimens of African travel, whom I looked upon 
with feelings of pride as my own countrymen. * * * Speke 
appeared the more worn of the two; he was excessively lean, 
but in reality he was in good tough condition; he had walked 
the whole way from Zanzibar, never having once ridden dur- 
ing that wearying march. Grant was in honorable rags ; his bare 
knees projecting through the remnants of trousers that were 
an exhibition of rough industry in tailor's work. He was 
looking tired and feverish ; but both men had a fire in the eye 
that showed the spirit that had led them through. 

When Speke and Grant had told their story of what had 
been accomplished, Baker was disappointed that there was 
nothing left for him to do ; the source of the Nile had already 
been discovered. 

*' Does not one leaf of the laurel remain for me? " he cried. 

The answer was such as to satisfy even the thirst of such a 
man as Baker for adventure and achievement in this difficult 
field; although there was proof that the Nile flowed out of one 
great lake, the Victoria Nyanza, it must receive an additional 
supply from an unknown lake, the Luta Nzige. Baker at 
once resolved to continue the explorations which Speke and 
Grant had begun; and made arrangements with Debono's par- 
ty, which Speke and Grant had accompanied, to go with them 
back to Falore, and farther if they could be induced to con- 
tinue the journey. 

But these arrangements were hardly made before they were 
unmade; for the traders were not anxious that this country 
should be explored. Baker at length persuaded seventeen of 
his own men, whom he had brought thus far at very great ex- 
pense, to follow him; and the kindness of Mrs. Baker to the 
little child of an Arab merchant was eventually the means of 
securing a measure of good-will from the father. At the 
first halt, however. Baker's men mutinied; the captain declar- 
ed that not a man should stir to load the camels. For answer. 
Baker struck him a blow on the jaw that felled him to the 
ground, while his gun flew into the air. The Englishman then 
rushed in among the others, and seizing them, some by the 
throat, he marched them to where the camels were awaiting 
their loads, and bade them do their work. They did it. 



Sm SAMUEL W. BAKER AND HIS HEROIC LADY. 219 

It was not long before Baker had won the admiration of 
those with whom he was associated ; and after the final deser- 
tion of the rebellious captain, together with two or three oth- 
ers, he does not seem to have had any serious trouble of this 
nature. It added not a little to the respect which those who 
were left had for their master, that, when two of the deserters 
had been killed in a skirmish between their new masters and 
the natives, and their guns had been brought to Baker, he 
knew, from the numbers on the weapons, to what men they 
had been entrusted. He repeated the names aloud and added, 
impressively : 

"Where are the men who have deserted from me? All 
gone ! Food for vultures ! " 

His influence after this was almost unbounded; and he was 
treated with great respect, not only by the men who were in 
his pay, but by the Arabs under whose protection he was 
traveling. 

But the rainy season had now set in; and both Mr. and Mrs. 
Baker suffered severely from fever. For several months they 
were inactive, save for one expedition of Baker's to the Asua, 
a stream of which the natives had told him. Finally, they re- 
covered sufficiently to take up the line of march again, and 
about a year after the meeting with Speke at Gondokoro, they 
arrived at Kamrasi's capital. From this point they desired to 
start for the lake of which they had heard ; but Kamrasi man- 
aged to delay them, on one pretext or another, for a consider- 
able time. At last, at a meeting which was ostensibly for the 
purpose of arranging for their departure, Kamrasi told Baker 
that he was at liberty to go when he pleased, but that he must 
leave his wife with Kamrasi. To this very modest condition 
the traveler gave such an answer as might be expected ; and 
when Mrs. Baker added her ideas upon the subject, ''with a 
countenance almost as amiable as the head of Medusa," her 
husband declares, the savage king was ready to apologize. 
He was in the habit of giving his visitors pretty wives, he said, 
and expected to present one to Baker; he had not thought 
that his present guest would object to making such an ex- 
change. As it was, there was an end of it, and he would nev- 
er mention the subject again. Baker refused to accept any 
apology, however, and bade the king a very cold adieu. Kam- 
rasi, to make amends, ordered his people to carry the travel- 
er's baggage, and sent an escort of six hundred yelling natives 
to accompany them. 

On the fourth day they came to the Kafoor River, which 



SIR SA3IUEL W. BAKER AND HIS HEROIC LADY. 221 

they were obliged to cross in a curious manner. The stream 
is covered with a network of floating weeds, strong enough to 
bear up a running man, although one moving slowly would 
sink through them. Baker started across, begging his wife to 
follow him as quickly as she could. He looked back, and saw 
her sinking through the weeds. Just as he started to her res- 
cue, she fell headlong. She had been sunstruck; and was in- 
sensible when they got her, with many exertions, to land. AH' 
efforts to restore her to life were for a time useless; but at 
length, after three days of insensibility, she moved and spoke. 
But to the dreadful quiet, so like death, had come the no less 
dreadful energy of delirium, which lasted for seven days. It 
was not until the next week after the return of her senses that 
they were able to progress by slow degrees. 

On the sixteenth day after leaving Kamrasi, they arrived at 
Parkani. A range of lofty mountains had been visible to them 
on the previous day, and the explorer felt assured that beyond 
them lay the goal of his journey; but on his arrival at Parka- 
ni he learned that he was nearer to it than he had thought. 
These mountains were the western boundary of the Nzige, and 
if he started early in the morning he might reach it by noon. 
Such a hint was not to be neglected; and bright and early on 
the morning of the 14th of March, 1864, they set out. The 
ascent proved too steep for their beasts of burden, and Mrs. 
Baker was worn out by sickness; but leaning on her husband's 
shoulder she, with Tindaunted resolution, accompanied him 
up the slope. At last they reached the summit of a pass, and 
saw, fifteen hundred feet below them, the great lake shining 
in the sunlight ; to the south and southwest there was but one 
great stretch of waters, apparently boundless as the ocean; to 
the west, the lake appeared to be about sixty miles wide, and 
bounded by mountains at least seven thousand feet high. Re- 
garding this scene. Baker says: 

"Long before I reached this spot, I had arranged to give 
three cheers with all our men in English style in honor of the 
discovery, but now that I looked down upon the great inland 
sea lying nestled in the very heart of Africa, and thought how 
vainly mankind had sought these sources through so many 
ages, and reflected that I had been the humble instrument per- 
mitted to unravel this portion of the great mystery when so 
many greater than I had failed, I felt too serious to vent my 
feelings in vain cheers for victory, and I sincerely thanked 
God for having guided us and supported us through all dan- 
gers to the good end. I was about fifteen hundred feet above 



SIR SAMUEL W. BAKER AND HIS HEROIC LADY. 223 

the lake, and I looked down from the steep granite cliff upon 
those welcome waters — upon that vast reservoir which nour- 
ished Egypt and brought fertility where all was wilderness — 
upon that great source so long hidden from mankind; that 
source of bounty and of blessings to millions of human beings ; 
and as one of the greatest objects in nature, I determined to 
honor it with a great name. As an imperishable memorial of 
one loved and mourned by our gracious queen, and deplored 
by every Englishman, I called this great lake the Albert 
Nyanza. The Victoria and the Albert lakes are the two 
sources of the Nile." 

Some time was spent in exploring the surrounding country, 
particularly the connecting stream between the two Nyanzas; 
but both the travelers were quite worn out by sickness. At 
one time. Baker had his headman carefully instructed what to 
do with his maps and memoranda when he should die ; for his 
wife he had no fear, for she was at least as sick as he. 

They w^ere now in a village of Kamrasi's country; and they 
found that the desertion of their men, and the starvation with 
which they were threatened, were due to Kamrasi's orders. 
Baker therefore sent a messenger to the king, demanding that 
an escort should be sent him. Kamrasi complied, only de- 
manding the rifle which Baker always carried, his compass and 
his watch. This demand was promptly refused; whereupon 
Kamrasi invited the traveler to visit him. The savage expect- 
ed to see him in rags, and was prepared to insult him in every 
possible way; what was his surprise, then, to see a man in the 
gorgeous costume of a Scotch Highlander, plaid, kilt, spor- 
ran, and bonnet I Baker had worn this when he lived in 
Perthshire many years before, and had saved it for some oc- 
casion like the present ; it was a fortunate thing that he pos- 
sessed it, for his other clothes were all in rags. As it was, the 
wonderful resources of the white man, who had these fine 
clothes when all thought he was destitute, appalled Kamrasi, 
who was not sure how much of it might be due to magic ; and 
the strangers were duly provided with the necessary food. 

In February, 1865, they set out for Gondokoro. They found 
that they had long been given up for dead by those who knew 
the dangers of the way. Reaching Suez about the middle of 
August, they found themselves once more in an English hotel. 
" What an Elysium 1 The beds had sheets and pillow-cases ! " 
So exclaims the traveler who had been wholly unused to these 
luxuries for several years. 

Mr. Baker found letters from home awaiting him at Cairo ; 



224 SIR SAMUEL W. BAKER AND HIS HEROIC LADY. 

the first that he opened contained the information that, while 
still uncertain whether he were alive or dead, the Royal 
Geographical Society had awarded him the Victoria gold 
medal. **This appreciation of my exertions was the warmest 
welcome I could have received on my first entrance into civili- 
zation after so many years of savagedom; it rendered the com- 
pletion of the Nile sources doubly grateful, as I had fulfilled the 
expectations that the Geographical Society had so generously 
expressed by the presentation of the medal before my task 
was done." 

On their arrival in England, the travelers were received with 
much enthusiasm. Royal recognition of his services followed 
the Geographical Society's honor, and Mr. Baker became Sir 
Samuel White Baker, a title by which he is now better known 
than by the simpler one that he first bore. It is but just to 
add that Captain Speke would also have been knighted, but 
for his premature death. 

Of a later expedition of Sir Samuel Baker's, we shall have 
more to say when we come to consider the slave trade, and 
what has been done for the abolition of the infamous traffic. 



CHAPTER XI. 



SCEWEIJVFUBTH IJV THE HEART OF AFRICA. 

/j"^R. Georg A. Schweinfurth was a native of Eiga, who, 
^J^l being influenced by one of his earliest teachers, the son 
of an African missionary, early felt a great interest in 
the exploration of the southern continent. He was yet 
but a young man when, in 1863, he spent some time in Egypt, 
botanizing alongthe course of the Nile. He went as far as Khar- 
toom, skirted the shores of the Eed Sea, and visited the high- 
lands of Abyssinia, returning after a stay of two years and a 
half. 

Speke, Grant, and Baker were then the heroes of the day, 
their works on African exploration being but recently pub- 
lished. But their work had been largely confined to an inves- 
tigation of the topography of the country; it is true, that 
Captain Grant had made careful notes of the new plants, a,nd 
of the flora generally; but to Schweinfurth, this was the main 
thing to be accomplished. He was a botanist, and he natur- 
ally thought more of the botany of the country than of any- 
thing besides. 

He submitted to the Koyal Academy of Science at Berlin a 
plan for the botanical exploration of the equatorial districts 
lying west of the Nile, which was readily accepted. A grant 
was made to him for this purpose from the funds of the Hum- 
boldt Institution of Natural History and Travels ; and in July, 
1868, he found himself once more on the soil of Africa. 

Instead of making the long voyage up the Nile, as Baker had 
done, Schweinfurth decided to proceed to Khartoom from 
Suez by way of Suakim and Berber. He made the journey in 
a leisurely way, reaching Berber October 7, and Khartoom on 
the first of the following month. 

This was his real starting-point. It was not his intention to 
fit out an expedition Avith native soldiers and porters, as he 

225 



226 SCHWEINFURTH IN THE HEART OF AFRICA. 

feared that such a party would be only a hindrance to his 
plans; it would arouse the hostility of the native princes, and 
the jealousy of the traders and merchants. He decided, there- 
fore, to attach himself to the train of the ivory merchants who 
came to Khartoom ; and while he would thus be confined to 
the territory which they chose to visit, he considered that this 
would afford ample range for his botanical investigations. 




Dr. Georg A. Schweinfurth. 

The ivory merchants of this part of Africa have systematized 
the trade very thoroughly. They maintain a great number of 
settlements in districts as near the ivory countries as possible, 
the natives being brought into a state of complete subjection, 
and the country regularly portioned out among the various 
merchants. These depots are palisaded villages, called seribas. 
At each one is an agent of the merchant in whose territory it 
is located ; while a superintendent has general charge of the 
district. These agents command the soldiers that the mer- 



- SCHWEINFURTH IN THE HEART OF AFRICA. 227 

chant maintains for the defense of his goods, and impose taxes 
for their support upon the subject natives; they decide the 
number of bearers which the natives must furnish when a dis- 
tant expedition is planned ; carry on war or make peace with 
the chiefs of the ivory country; and once a year send the col- 
lected stores of ivory to their master at Khartoom. 

It will thus be seen that the ivory merchant is more power- 
ful than any of the native chiefs ; and that a traveler under 
the protection of one may safely journey through the wilds of 
Africa. Schweinf urth could more readily follow such leaders 
as the caravans of these men than if he were engaged on a 
strictly geographical expedition ; the flora will be substantially 
the same throughout a district; and ten miles to the right or 
the left cannot matter as much as if the source of a river were 
in question. 

Leaving Khartoom January 5, 1869, Schweinf urth, in com- 
pany with a -party of men in the employ of Ghattas, a Coptic 
Christian ivory dealer, and attended by six Nubians who were 
in his own pay, sailed up the Nile toward the country of the 
Shillooks. This territory was then but little known, even to 
the Egyptians, who completed its subjection some two years 
after Schweinfurth visited it. From data' then obtained, the 
traveler's impressions were verified; he found it to be a 
densely populated country, everything which contributes to 
the exuberance of life here finding a concentrated field. The 
huts in their villages were so closely huddled together as to re- 
mind him of a thick mass of fungus. He reckoned that there 
must be nearly a hundred districts containing from fifty to one 
hundred villages each. This estimate was found to be too 
great, when the Egyptian government came to enumerate the 
villages and the people ; of the former, it was found that there 
were three thousand, with about one million tAvo hundred 
thousand inhabitants. It is the most densely populated part 
of Africa known to us, not even the Valley of the Nile being 
excepted. 

Like most African tribes which wear but scanty clothing, 
the Shillooks spend much time and care upon their head- 
dress ; the aim of all being, apparently, to render themselves 
as ridiculous-looking as possible. This result is attained in 
various ways, the wool being sometimes fashioned into the 
shape of a helmet, sometimes of a comb or a fan. Occasion- 
ally the traveler found a man with several combs arranged in 
parallel lines upon his head. 

The White Nile is formed by the confluence of two streams, 
15 



SCHWEINFURTH IX THE HEART OF AFRICA. 229 

the Bahr-el-Ghazal and the Bahr-el-Gebel. The latter was 
considered by Speke and Baker as the main stream of the 
Nile; the first-named explorer speaking of 1 he Bahr-el-Ghazal , 
or Gazelle River, as an unimportant stream. This judgment 
Schweinfurth condemns, believing that it is the Gazelle which 
is the main branch, draining a country of about one hundred 
and fifty thousand square miles. This difference in judgment 
is perhaps due to the difference of the seasons at which the 
two travelers viewed the rivers in question. 

The Gazelle is unnavigable by reason of the grass-tangle, 
which, beginning in the White Nile below the mouth of this 
afiluent, is so thick that, at the point where the Gazelle de- 
bouches, Schweinfurth was six days in pushing his way 
through it into the tributary stream ; and increasing in density 
as the Gazelle is ascended, it finally renders navigation of any 
kind absolutely impossible. 

This point, where the expedition must take to land whether 
or no, is the point from which the march begins. The des- 
tination was some seribas of Ghattas, two hundred miles in 
the interior. The caravan numbered nearl}^ four hundred, of 
whom half w^ere armed- men — surely a suflicient force to over- 
awe the natives in any numbers. 

Their route lay through the country of the Dinkas, whom 
Schweinfurth considers the foremost of native people. They 
occupy such a wide extent of territory, that they vary materi- 
ally in their ethnological standing; but one and all are lovers 
of cattle. Their one idea is to acquire a large herd. Not for 
food; far from it; they think too much of their cattle to 
slaughter them; only those that die a natural death are eaten; 
and the owner usually feels too severely his loss to join in the 
feast which his friends and neighbors make to celebrate such 
an event. Single cattle-yards sometimes hold as many as 10,- 
000 cattle, the owners of which profess themselves entirely 
satisfied if only their cows get fat and look nice. 

The caravan arrived at Ghattas' chief seriba March 30, and 
the explorer now had considerable leisure for an investigation 
of the flora of the surrounding country, and for getting into 
shape those notes and specimens which had been procured on 
the way. Two neatly built huts had been prepared for him, 
and of these he at once took possession, leaving them only for 
strolls in a country of almost idyllic beauty. The early rains 
had begun, and the ground was fairly covered with plants, the 
beauty of which rivalled anything which the botanist had ever 
seen. 




A NIAM-NIAM MINSTREL. 



SCHWEINFURTH IX THE HEART OF AFRICA. 23l 

During this time, he made a pretty thorough exploration of 
the sources of the Dyoor Eiver, one of the most important 
tributaries of the White Kile system. He has, in this con- 
nection, carefully noted the characteristics of the Dyoor tribe, 
a branch of the Dinkas. His time was further occupied in 
the care of a garden, which he planted with corn from New 
Jersey, tobacco from Maryland, and other plants from various 
countries. Of the corn, he remarks that not only did the 
amount reaped answer his highest expectations, but that the 
quality surpassed that of the seed. 

After an excursion into the country of the Bongo, whom he 
found better housed than any tribe which he had yet seen, but 
whose customs in eating disgusted him, he accepted the in- 
vitatioij of another ivorj'-merchant's representative, to accom- 
pany a caravan into the country of the Niam-Niams. It was 
under the protection of this merchant's people that he was 
enabled to reach the upper Shari, more than eight hundred 
miles from Khartoom; and thus open fresh districts to geo- 
graphical knowledge and establish the existence of some 
enigmatical peoples. The expedition set out January 29, more 
than a thousand souls in the caravan, four hundred of 
whom were soldiers. On the fourth day the country of the 
Niam-Niams was entered. At first the natives fled from the 
caravan ; but as the caravan was recognized as that of Abou 
Sammat, they became more friendly. The stranger found 
these people tall and well-proportioned, intelligent, warlike, 
and impatient of restraint. They are extremely fond of 
music, and have wandering minstrels, who perform on a kind 
of stringed instrument, and accompany this music with a 
song. Their affection for their wives is unusual among Afri- 
can peoples; and their whole bearing is almost chivalrous. 
There is a dark side to the picture, of course; and these 
models of chivalric savages are cannibals, whose war-cry is 
"Meat!" Their language contains no equivalent for God or 
prayer, and their only religion is a belief in magic. 

" Their curiosity appeared to be insatiable, and they never 
wearied in their inquiries as to my origin. To their mind the 
mystery was as to where I could have come from ; my hair was 
the greatest of enigmas to them ; it gave me a supernatural 
look, and accordingly they asked whether I had dropped from 
the clouds or was a visitor from the moon, and could not be- 
lieve that anything like me had been seen before. * * * * 
When they came to see me, I had to provide for their enter- 
tainment, and in this respect I was greatly assisted by my 




KING MUNZA IN FULL STATE. 



SGH^VEIKFURTH IN THE HEART OF AFRICA. 233 

matches, as the marvel of my being able to produce fire at 
pleasure was an inexhaustible source of interest. If ever I 
handed over a lucifer and let them light it themselves, their 
rapture surpassed all bounds; they never failed to consider 
that the power of producing flames resided in me, but their as- 
tonishment was very greatly increased when they discovered 
that the faculty could be extended to themselves. Giving the 
white man credit for being able to procure fire or rain at his 
own pleasure, they looked upon the performances as miracles 
unparalleled since the dawn of creation." 

As the journey continued, Schweinfurth was not a little puz- 
zled by the varying directions which the puny streams appear- 
ed to take ; he could not, for some time, make out the point 
of the compass to which they flowed, or even to what great riv- 
er they were tributary. It was no small wonder ; for, as he 
discovered before many days had passed, he was on the water- 
shed of the Nile, and was the first European who, coming 
from the north, had yet reached that point. Finally, after 
a journey of nearly two months, they reached the Welle, 
which Schweinfurth regards as the upper course of the Shari. 
This was crossed in Monbuttoo boats, and the next day they 
entered the territory of this tribe, of which Munza was the 
king. 

The merchant in whose caravan Schweinfurth was traveling 
was a sworn brother of this monarch, according to rites which 
obtain among savage peoples ; and the stranger was therefore 
introduced at court under the most flattering auspices. Not- 
withstanding this, he was compelled to wait a full hour after 
he presented himself in the great hall (for the Monbuttoos ex- 
cel other African tribes in their architecture), and allow the 
king time to make his toilet. Of his appearance, when he 
finally entered and seated himself in his chair of state, Schwein- 
furth says : 

*'I could now feast my eyes upon the fantastic figure of this 
ruler. I was intensely interested in gazing upon the sover- 
eign of whom it was commonly reported that his daily food 
was human flesh. With arms and legs, neck and breast, all 
bedizened with copper rings, chains, and other strange de- 
vices, and with a great copper crescent at the top of his head, 
the potentate gleamed with a shimmer that was to our 
ideas unworthy of royalty, but savored too much of the maga- 
zines of civic opulence, reminding one almost unavoidably of 
a well-kept kitchen. His appearance, however, was decidedly 
marked with hm nationality, for every adornment that he had 



234 SCHWEINFUBTII 1^ THii HEART OF ATRICA. 

about him belonged exclusively to Central Africa, as none but 
the fabrications of his native land are deemed worthy of adorn- 
ing the person of a king of the Monbuttoo. Agreeably to the 
national fashion, a plumed hat rested on the top of his chig- 
non, and soared a foot and a half above his head; this hat was 
a narrow cylinder of closely plaited reeds; it was ornamented 
with three layers of red parrots' feathers, and crowned with a 
plume of the same ; there was no brim, but the copper crescent 
projected from the front like the vizer of a Korman helmet. 
The muscles of Munza's ears were pierced and copper bars as 
thick as the finger were inserted in the cavities. The entire 
body was smeared with the native unguent of powdered cam- 
wood, which converted the original bright brown tint of the 
skin into the color which is so conspicuous on ancient Pompe- 
ian halls. With the exception of being of an unusually fine text- 
ure, his single garment differed in no respect from that worn 
throughout the country; it consisted of a single large piece of 
fig-bark impregnated with the same dye that served as his cos- 
metic, and this, falling in graceful folds about his body, form- 
ed breeches and waistcoat all in one. Eound thongs of buffalo 
hide, with heavy cojoper balls attached to the ends, were fast- 
ened around the waist in a huge knot, and like a girdle held 
the coat, which was neatly hemmed. Around the king's neck 
hung a copper ornament made in little points which radiated 
like beams all over his chest; on his bare arms were strange- 
looking pendants which in shape could only be compared to 
drum-sticks with rings at the end. Halfway up the lower j^art 
of the arm and just below the knee were three bright, horny- 
looking circlets cut out of hippopotamus hide, likewise tipped 
Avith copper. As a symbol of his dignity Munza T\^elded in his 
right hand the sickle-shaped Monbuttoo scimetar, in this case 
only an ornamental weapon, and made of pure copper. * * 
I could hardly help marveling at the composure of this wild 
African, and wondering where in the world he could have 
learned his dignity and self-possession." 

Schweinf urth was the first white traveler who had ever pene- 
trated to the country of the Monbuttoo, which lies between 
the parallels of three degrees and four degrees north, and the 
meridians tsventy-eight degrees and twenty-nine degrees east 
from Greenwich. The area is not more than four thousand 
square miles, but the population amounts, according to this 
traveler's estimate, to not less than a million ; and the degree 
of progress which the}^ have made in civilization and its arts, 
renders them remarkable amonof the nations of Central Africa. 



It is a remarkable physical feature of the race, that in addition 
to the fact that their color is lighter than that of any other 
natives of this part of the continent, many of them have 
light hair. 

The people of this tribe use a great deal of fat, both as a 
cosmetic, rubbed in with the paint with which they color their 
skin, and in cooking. For the latter purpose, they use palm- 
oil and the oil prepared from the bodies of white ants ; besides 
a fat which is even more revolting — they are cannibals, and 
human fat is universally employed among them. Schwein- 
furth says that '' the cannibalism of the Monbuttoo is unsur- 
passed by any nation in the world." 

But the discovery which has rendered this explorer's name 
more famous than any other achievement has done, was that 
of the pygmies. For two thousand years, there had been sto- 
ries told of a pygmy race living in the interior of Africa ; but 
modern enlightenment had set them down as mere idle fables of 
antiquity and ignorance. But at the court of Munza, the Ger- 
man found actual specimens of the Akka tribe, men scarcely 
four feet and a half high, whom the Monbuttoo king, to whom 
the tribe was tributary, had compelled to settle in his neigh- 
borhood, that he might have such curiosities at his court. 
These dwarfs, however, proved so shy that it was impossible to 
obtain much information regarding them, their customs, or 
their country. The most definite information he could obtain 
was that four days ' journey from Munza's capital, in a' direc- 
tion south of southeast, would bring him to the first village of 
the Akkas. 

After a couple of weeks spent at the capital of Munza, the 
ivory merchant became convinced that he had all the stores 
which that king possessed ; it was commercial wisdom, there- 
fore, to waste no more time here, and he proposed to visit 
those tribes living farther to the south. But Munza did not 
wish to lose the monopoly of the ivory trade, and therefore 
refused his co-operation. With'out him, nothing could be 
done; and much to the chagrin of Schweinfurth, they were 
obliged to return. Something of his disappointment may be 
realized, when we state that he was actually not more than 
four hundred miles from Livingstone's most northern ter- 
minus. He was almost within sight of the hills bounding the 
Albert Nyanza; the solution of the Nil& question, so long un- 
solved, was nearly within his grasp ; but without soldiers, such 
as accompanied the Speke expedition, without the funds 
which might have made it possible for a solitary traveler to 



SCHWEINFURTH IX THE HEART OF AFRICA. 237 

make his way through the country, he realized that he had 
reached the southernmost limits of his journey. 

The caravan broke camp on the 12th of April, and after a 
comparatively uneventful journey, reached the head seriba of 
the merchant early in July. From this point, Schweinfurth 
pressed on toward Egypt; but was detained for some time by 
various circumstances. It was an irreparable loss when a most 
disastrous fire destrojed all his botanical and entomological 
collections, as well as his journals and registers. Having lost 
his pedometers in the fire, he actually counted all his steps in 
order to ascertain the distance over one whole expedition. 
They numbered more than a million and a quarter. This was 
in an effoit to map out the district of the upper Gazelle. 
When his ink failed, he drew and made his memoranda with 
chicken's blood. 

In the absence of these notes which were destroyed by the 
fire,tlr6 results of Schweinfurth 's journey, from a geographical 
point of view, may be thus briefly summed up : he crossed the 
water-shed between the Nile and the tributaries of Lake Tchad, 
and thus proved that the basin of the Gazelle was of consider- 
ably less extent than Livingstone had supposed. 



CHAPTER XII. 



DR. HOL UB, THE A USTBIAJY H UJYTEB AMD EXPLOBEB, 

/J^R. Holub was an Austrian physician, who, in 1872, re- 
^j^J solved to go to South Africa and make such explora- 
tions as a lengthy residence in the country would permit. 
He remained in this portion of the continent for seven 
years, the greater part of which time was spent* in traveling 
through the country so little known to Europeans. 

He was not over-burdened with this world's goods; he naive- 
ly remarks, having occasion to mention that his cabin was not 
the first, that he had not the money to take any but a second- 
cabin passage to Cape Town; and he further informs us that 
on landing, after having paid the duty on his gun and revolver, 
he had but two dollars and a half remaining in his pocket. 
Under such circumstances, it was necessary for him to remain 
at Cape Town for some little time, in order to recruit his ex- 
hausted finances, which he did by the practice of his profes- 
sion. Having paid his medical visits, he would set out on long 
excursions into the surrounding country, which would occupy 
the remainder of the day ; and in this way, four weeks passed 
away, at Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. In the beginning of 
August, 1872, he set out for Fauresmith, where he hoped to 
enter upon a practice which would maintain him for a while. 
In this, however, he was disappointed ; and accepted the advice 
of a new-found friend, to push on toward the diamond fields. 

Here, two courses lay open to him; he must dig for dia- 
monds, or secure a medical practice. He chose the latter; 
and established himself in a rude hut containing two rooms; 
here he kept bachelor's hall, with all the discomforts implied 
in that term. Servant he had none, and his housework was 
done after night and by stealth, that his professional dignity 
might not suffer. Yet even his poverty did not secure him 

from attempts at theft. Countries where wealth may, possi- 

238 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 



239 



bly be accumulated suddenly, as in rich mines of every kind, 
are infested with many disorderly characters; and here, in ad- 
dition to those who came from the various countries of Europe, 
were the natives who had learned the white man's vices, with- 
out losing any of their own, or acquiring any of his virtues. 
Police supervision was so slight that once, at least, he had oc- 
casion to eject from his hut a thief w^hose arms showed that he 
was prepared to commit a greater crime than theft, if such 
should be necessary to attain his end. 




Dr. Emil Holuh. 

The whole of the diamond-fields of South Africa may be 
divided into three districts. The oldest fields are on the Vaal 
Eiver, and extend from Bloemhof to the confluence of the 
Vaal and the Harts ; the next are the so-called dry-diggings, 
where the "pebbles" were originally obtained by sifting the 
earth, instead of washing it; of this district the town of Kim- 
berley is the center; and here it was that Dr. Holub was estab- 



240 



DK. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 



lished; the third district lies in the Orange Eiver Free State. 
His residence here was shortly after the palmiest days of the 
mines, which were in 1870 and 1871. It is not that the aggregate 
profits have diminished, but while the yield has largely in- 
creased, the cost of working has also increased. Since this 
period, however, when a swaggering adventurer would some- 
times light his pipe with a five-pound note, the rush of adven- 




Bouncing a Midnight Thief, 

turers eager for sudden wealth has largely given way to the ap- 
plication of steady and systematic industry; the mode of ob- 
taining the diamonds has gradually become more skilled and 
scientific, and the authorized rules and regulations for the pro- 
tection of the diggers and the merchants have materially im- 
proved the condition of both. Law and order have gTadually 
gained control, and the large numbers of reckless characters 
Avho flocked thither during the wild excitement which follow- 
ed the first discovery of precious stones, have been forced to 
give way to a better class of inhabitants. 

Dr. Holub's medical practice increased so rapidly that he 
was soon able to pay the debts which he had incurred, and to 
lav by considerable sums toward the undertaking on which he 



DE. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLOKER. 



241 



had resolved. He purchased a wagon and many requisites for 
traveling, invited three friends to join him, and in February, 
1873, set out on his first long journey, which, he says, was to 
be mainly one of reconnoissance. 

His main object was to ascertain by actual experience what 
amount of provisions and other articles it would be necessary 
to carry with him for a prolonged expedition into the interior. 
His goal was the country of the Batlapins, living up the Harts 




African Explorers Trading with Natives. 

valley. He found these people friendly enough, and ready to 
admire all the articles of European manufacture which the 
travelers had with them and were willing to take the time to 
exhibit. 

The time of the travelers was spent in alternate hunting and 
journeying, the hunting being done not only with a view to ob- 
taining food, but from an interest in the strange animals them- 
selves; nor was botany neglected. Perhaps a description 
which Holub gives of the journey just after leaving Bloemhof 
may illustrate some of the difficulties of traveling in this part 
of the world, even when there is no danger of attack from hos- 
tile natives : 



242 DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 

** Ever since we had left Klipdrift the weather had been re- 
markably fine, with only a few occasional exceptions; but as 
we quitted Bloemhof we observed that the horizon was omin- 
ously heavy; and as evening drew on, the rain began to fall, 
and it became so dark that it was quite impossible to see more 
than a few yards ahead. I regretted that I had not come to 
the determination of passing the night in the town. 

** For a while one or two of us tried to walk in front of the 
team, to give confidence to the Koranna who was leading the 
foremost pair of bullocks by the bridle, declaring every min- 
ute that he could not distinguish the path from the ground by 
the side ; but the rain was so drenching, and the wind so piti- 
less, that we were obliged to give up, and get what shelter we 
could in the wagon. After slipping and sliding for about a 
hundred yards or so more, the bullocks all came to a stand- 
still, and I could not help fearing that we had got on to a de- 
clivity, which would lead down to the river; and knowing 
that further progress under such circumstances would be dan- 
gerous, I came to the conclusion that we must stay where we 
were until daylight. 

*' Notwithstanding the pouring rain, I went out twice to re- 
connoiter our situation. The second time I went farther than 
before, and made a discovery which rather startled me. Not 
many yards in front of us I observed a large dark spot, which 
it struck me must be a deep hollow in the ground. I called to 
the driver to watch with me, and wait for the next flash of 
lightning, that we might ascertain what it really was. The 
lightning was not long in coming, and revealed close at our 
feet the bed of a rain-torrent, that of course went right to the 
river. Only a few more steps and the consequences must have 
been most disastrous ; for when daylight came, we found that 
the walls of the ravine were not only very precipitous, but not 
less than sixteen feet in depth." 

Wonderfontein, a name which the Boers apply to the caves 
and grottos which distinguish the district lying along the Mooi 
Eiver, was the farthest point reached in this first journey. 
Their visit was limited to three daj^s, during which time the 
adventurer explored the caves as far as possible ; lamenting 
that he was not permitted to enlarge certain passages which 
would have enabled him to explore what he supposed must be 
much longer and loftier rifts in the rocks. 

Their return route was the same, as far as Bloemhof, as that 
by which they came. Passing over minor hunting adventures, 
we come to one the scene of which is laid in the Maquassie 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 



243 



Hills; an account of which we quote, as it wastoldtoHolub: 

*'The northern passes of the hills were being terribly rav- 
aged by four lions, that none of the Boers would venture to 
attack. At last, one day, a farmer's son, having gone out to 
fetch home three of his horses, came riding back in great ex- 
citement, with the intelligence that he had found their car- 
casses all lying half -eaten in the grass. The foot-marks all 
around left no doubt that the lions had been the perpetrators 
of the deed. 




Dangers of Midnight Traveling. 

"The announcement stirred the Boers to action, and they 
determined to make up a party to hunt them down. Accord- 
ingly, the farmer -and six others, of whom Schmitt was one, 
mounted their horses; the son who had discovered the tracks 
being elected leader. The lion-track was soon found ; it led 
through a valley, across one hill, then another, and finally on 
to a level plain, where, not only was the grass very short, but 
the. soil was so hard that the vestiges of the beasts could no 
longer be distinguished. After some hesitation, it was agreed 
that there was no alternative but to abandon the chase ; and it 
is very probable that most of the party had found their ardor 
16 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 245 

somewhat abated by their exertions, and were quite content to 
acquiesce in the proposal to return home. They broke up 
close to Schmitt's house, one of the party remaining behind a 
minute to talk. All at once, to their vast surprise, they spied 
out, close to the farm, a lion and lioness, evidently lurking in 
ambush. Without losing an instant they rode towards them, 
their horses behaving bravely in the presence of their natural 
foes. In order to get a better aim at the beasts when they 
rose, Schmitt dismounted and led his horse a few steps by the 
bridle, then raising his gun to be ready to fire, he called to his 
partner to do the same. On turning his head, however, he 
found that his friend, instead of following him, had retreated 
for a good fifty j^ards, so that here he was alone confronting a 
couple of lions, with very likely several more in the rear. 
What could he do but retreat also? As he retired he kept 
his eye fixed upon the lions, who kept steadily following him, 
till just as he joined his companion, they suddenly turned tail 
and made off towards one of the rock-funnels where the 
bushes were very thick. 

*' The rest of the party had hardly got out of earshot, and 
were soon summoned back. Off they started, and determined 
to explore the hollow, taking especial care to watch the side 
nearest the hills for which the lions were almost sure to make. 
After a contiiluous holloing and throwing of stones, the lion- 
ess was ultimately aroused from her retreat. She did not 
rush straight towards the hills, as had been expected, but took 
a devious course, which, however, happened to bring her 
within range. of no less than three of her pursuers. Simul- 
taneously three shots rang in the air. Despite her efforts to 
escape, the lioness very soon sunk to the earth. Every shot 
had taken effect." 

Arrived at Bloemhof , they started off again for the famous 
Hallwater Salt-pan, near the Vaal, and nominally in the 
Transvaal Republic, but virtually under the power of the 
native tribe of the Korannas. From this point they pursued 
a path nearly parallel to the river, intending to explore the 
Hebron hills. 

They arrived at Hebron, once an important place, but now 
merely a village containing a shop or two, a hotel, a smithy, 
a slaughter-house and a prison. The state of their finances 
made it necessary for them to push on without an hour's de- 
lay, although the day was Easter Sunday. Because it was a 
holiday, the ferryman refused to set them across the river; all 
his men were tipsy; so that Holub resolved to try his luck 



DR. ttoLtn, rUK ArsTRtAx iFixw.ORr^R. 247 

crossing the river by a ford. One of his companions went re- 
connoitering, and returned with the information that there 
was a ford about two miles down the stream. They started off 
at once. 

'' Though the water w^as shallow, the current was strong; the 
river-bed, too, was covered Avith rocks, which even in the open 
road would sorely have tried the strength of our oxen. Before 
we got one-third of the way across, we found ourselves carried 
considerably below the ford, and our position rapidly becom- 
ing critical. 

"Our black drivers exerted themselves to the uttermost. 
They shouted, they flogged, they pulled; but quite in vain; 
the oxen -were utterly unable to stir, and distressed by the 
strength of the current, they began to be restive and to pull at 
their yokes and bridles. This caused the foremost pair to 
sink deeper and deeper, and it seemed only too certain that 
they must be drowned. Prompt action was necessary. I had 
hurt my hand and was incapacitated from rendering much 
help ; but I sprang from the wagon, followed by one of the rest ; 
and although we could do nothing to rescue the vehicle from 
its situation, we succeeded in unharnessing the oxen, who 
struggled to the opposite side with the greatest difficulty. By 
the most arduous exertions, we went backwards and forwards 
carrying the most valuable part of my collection ashore; but 
the wagon itself we were obliged to leave with a large portion 
of its contents, in the bed of the river, until further assistance 
could be procured. Our labor entailed such fatigue that before 
darkness came on we were all ready to drop. The uncertainty 
about our wagon and property made us pass an anxious night, 
and it was a great relief in the early morning to hear a 
distant cracking of whips, announcing that aid was at hand. 
Four Koranna wagons, drawm by six or eight pairs of oxen, soon 
appeared, and made their way quickly to our side of the river. 
A bargain was concluded, by which our wagon was to be 
brought to land for the sum of ten shillings, and the maneuver 
was accomplished without difficulty or farther accident." 

A little more than a month after this adventure, the party 
arrived at their original starting-point; and Dr. Holub once 
more set himself to work to procure funds for a second jour- 
ney, much longer, but still partaking somewhat of the nature- 
of a trial trip. This second journey was begun Nov. 3, 1873; 
the party consisted of Holub, three German friends, a Griqua 
driver, nine dogs, a saddle-horse, and eight oxen. The first 
stage of the journey was from Dutcitspan to Musemanyana; 



24S DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 

and they had traveled but a very few days when the first of their 
adventures befell them : 

" Proceeding east by north we soon came to a region where 
we could well believe our guide that not a drop of rain had 
fallen for months, and the further we advanced the more 
parched and yellow did the grass become ; though the spring 
Avas coming on, we saw but few sprouting blades, and as we 
w^ent on we found fewer still; the young leaves of the amaryl- 
lis, too, that had sprung up here and there were quite 
w^ithered by the drought. * * * A light breeze swayed the 
tall grass stems like a field of corn, and was hailed by us with 
delight as it moderated the heat, and gave a sort freshness to 
our fevered lips. The oxen had not tasted w^ater for thirty 
hours; their languor was excessive, and up hill they could 
climb only at a snail's pace. * * * While we were looking 
about us, we saw a thick cloud overhanging the plains. Every 
one, natives included, settled that it was a huge swarm of lo- 
custs. I was occupied with my own matters, and soon forgot 
all about it. A sudden cry from one of the people in the wag- 
on very shortly afterward recalled my attention to what we 
had seen, and on looking again I beheld a sight that could not 
fail to fill me with amazement and alarm. The plain right in 
front of us, over which we were on the point of passing, was 
one sheet of flame. The cloud that we had observed turned 
out to be a volume of smoke among the bushwood, that was all 
on fire. The conflagration was perhaps five miles from us, but 
it was exactly across our path, and we might well feel disma}-- 
ed." 

*' The first among us to regain composure was our tempo- 
rary guide, who pointed out that the wagon-tracks of which he 
had spoken were hardly twenty yards ahead ; at least, we could 
reach them. We looked to the right; we looked to the left; ■ 
on the right the ground was level, but it only led to a chain of 
hills, the base of which was already licked by the flames; on 
the left was a hollow which w^as just beginning to catch fire, 
and beyond it a little hillock some forty feet high. Our per- 
plexities seemed only to increase ; the oxen were too weary to 
allow us to think for one moment of retreating; they could not 
hold out a mile ; and yet something must be done ; the fire was 
manifestly advancing in our very face. We discussed the pos- 
sibility of setting fire to the bushwood close in front of us, and 
thus, as it were, forestalling the flames ; but the scheme was not 
to be thought of; the wagon, which contained some thousands 
of cartridges, three hundred pounds of gunpowder, besides a 



DR. HOLUB, THE' AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 249 

quantity of spirits, was already so heated by the sun that we 
could scarcely lay our hands upon it; a single spark of fire 
would in an instant involve it in complete destruction. 

*' My eye still rested upon the little hill. I saw that the wind 
was blowing the flames in a direction away from it, and aware 
that delay would be fatal, and that some action must betaken, 
I gave my decision that at all hazards we must make for it. 
Every one agreed that I was right, and, rushing to their posts, 
did what they could to urge on the bullocks without a mo- 
ment's loss of time. Mounting my horse, I hurried on in front, 
but on reaching the hollow that had to be crossed before the 
place of safety on the hill could be gained, I almost gave a cry 
of despair on seeing its character ; it was not only overgrown 
with bushwood and very steep, but was strewn in all directions 
with huge blocks of stone ; if only the wagon-wheel should 
strike against one of these, who could doubt the consequences? 

*' With all his might, Boly cracked his whip and shouted 
vigorously, and succeeded in making the oxen drag the wagon 
with unexpected speed ; they were all flecked with foam as 
they pulled their oscillating load behind them ; every moment 
it seemed as if it must overbalance. At the bottom of the hol- 
low it was absolutely necessary to take a rest ; the beasts must 
have time to recover from their exertions ; they were all more 
or less torn by the bushes, and my friends, too, were much 
scratched about the hands and face. The heat was becoming 
intense. My horse was not naturally a nervous animal, but it 
trembled until it could scarcely stand, and the hardest part of 
our struggle was yet to come. 

*' A flake of fire fell within fifteen yards of us, and warned 
us that it was time to be on the move. '' Hulloh an! Hulloh 
anP roared the driver, and the bullocks once again strained 
themselves to their work. Scarcely, however, had they gone 
ten paces, when the smoke puffed against their eyes, and be- 
wildered, they swerved into a track where the wagon must 
inevitably have been overturned ; it was a critical moment, but 
happily one of my party, who was walking by my side, saw the 
danger, and rushing at the heads of the leaders, turned them 
by a desperate effort into the right direction. The instinct of 
self-preservation now redoubled every one's efforts; onwards 
w^e pushed through clouds of smoke, amidst falling ashes, 
amongst fragments of red-hot bark, till we were within fifty 
yards of a place of safety. So heated was the atmosphere, 
that I momentarily expected to see the canvas of the wagon 
break out into a blaze. 



biJ. HOLUB, THEi AUSTRIAJf EXPLOfeER. 251 

*' The' bullocks once more gasped and tottered beneath their 
yoke; with painful toil they made their Avay for another thirty 
yards ; it was doubtful whether they could accomplish the re- 
maining twenty. 

** One more moment of rest, followed by one more frantic 
paroxysm of exertion, and all was safe ! Just in time we reach- 
ed a hill that overlooked a hollow, beyond which was the ex- 
panse of black burnt grass." 

The next day brought a pouring rain, which effectually end- 
ed all danger of fire for that season. A few days after this ad- 
venture with the prairie-fire, they had another, which was 
laughable when they had recovered from the annoyance. They 
were fairly mobbed by the natives, *vvho demanded that they 
should sell them brandy : 

" They had brought all manner of things to ^barter for 
spirits. One man held up a jackal's hide, another a goat- 
skin; another offered us bullock-thongs; yet another had 
brought out a bullock-yoke; and some of them had their 
home-made wooden spoons and platters to dispose of to us. 
It was a most disgusting scene. We tried to treat the whole 
matter with contempt, and to take no notice of their demand ; 
but when we attempted to drive on, their importunities waxed 
louder than ever. They caught hold of the bridles, and 
pushed the oxen back, becoming ever more and more clamorous. 
One of the men made what he evidently thought would be an 
irresistible appeal, by offering me a couple of greasy shillings. 
They next tried to bribe us with some skjns of milk which 
the women were made to bring out from the huts, and they 
were driven to despair when they found that the offer of a 
goat which they dragged forward was not accepted. Their 
screechings and shoutings were of no avail ; not a drop of fire- 
water was to be extorted from me. We had almost to beat 
them off before they would allow us to proceed. A few per- 
severed in following us to the ford, and made a final effort to 
secure one bottle by a private negotiation, out of sight of 
their neighbors. They confidently offered five shillings for 
the bottle; but I was inexorable." 

The next stage of their journey was from Musemanyana to 
Moshaneng. It was during this part of their trip that they 
found the natives especially alarmed by the fear of lions, who 
had committed many depredations. It appeared that the 
savage beasts preferred domestic animals to any other ; they 
were incredibly bold, being so accustomed to the sight of men 
and the sound of fire-arms that they ventured very close to 




A RUSH FOR FIRE-WATER, 



r>E. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 253 

the kraals. The chief with whom, among others, they talked, 
told them that he had lost many cattle, and several of his peo- 
ple; and two of his men, who had gone out to search for a 
missing bullock, had come suddenly upon a colony of lions, 
eight in number, including cubs, devouring the animal; and 
had scarcely had time to scramble into the branches of an im- 
mense tree to save themselves from this veritable lions' den. 

" He related a distressing incident that had occurred on one 
of the neighboring rivers. A party of natives were on their 
way from Maraba, in the Makalaka country, to the diamond 
fields, a distance of eight hundred miles. It was by no means 
unusual for such parties to quit their homes with simply a hide 
and an assegai, quite prepared, during their long and arduous 
journey, to live on nothing but roots, wild fruit, and occasion- 
ally a small head of game. The spectacle they would present 
to any traveler who might meet them was very piteous. Some- 
times they would be almost destitute of food of any sort for 
days together, and be reduced well-nigh to skeletons. Their 
progress would become more and more painful; and they 
would endeavor to mitigate the pangs of hunger by drawing in 
the waistbands which with a strip of hide formed clothing. 
The ordinary custom was for them to travel in single file, the 
strongest first, then the less robust, followed by the weakest; 
so that an invalid would often be quite by himself, a long way 
in the rear. In the party of which the chief was speaking 
there were two brothers, one of whom, on account of his 
feeble condition of health, had for more than a week been 
obliged to take his place last in the procession. Arriving at 
the bank of the Sitlagole, the party halted to search for some 
roots, not unlike turnips, which were known to grow there, 
and which they hoped to cook and enjoy for supper. They 
found the roots in such abundance that it was resolved to 
spend the night on the spot, and thej^ kindled a fire to prepare 
their meal. On closing in, it was soon ascertained that the sick 
comrade was absent. They looked at each other with much 
perplexity; but the brother of the missing man, without 
losing a moment, snatched up his own and his brother's share 
of the roots which had been gathered, fastened them to a 
strap upon his shoulder, seized his assegai, and started off. The 
rest drew closer in, enjoyed their supper, lighted up several 
additional fires as a protection from attack, and laid them- 
selves down under the bushes to sleep. 

" The missing Bechuana was a Batloka, and the evidence 
went to show that the poor fellow had been compelled to rest 




TREED BY LIONS. 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 255 

SO often and so long from his weakness, hunger and sore feet, 
that he had fallen far into the rear; and missing his way, had 
strayed into a rocky valley full of bushes that were notoriously 
the haunt of lions. Here no doubt he had been pounced upon 
and killed, for the brother had not gone far before he could 
trace the spot where the proper path had been left, and pro- 
ceding onward he soon observed a lion's footprints in the 
sand. Instead of turning back, he had apparently caught 
sight of his brother's stick, straw hat, and gourd bottle, lying 
on the ground, and trusting to his assegai, had resolved to 
venture on alone. 

*' ' But what was an assegai,' exclaimed Shebor, 'in the face 
of a lion which had just tasted human blood? ' 

" It was clear that before he reached his brother's corpse 
the lion had sprung from its concealment, and secured him as 
a second victim. 

*' Finding next morning that both the men were absent the 
whole party was in consternation, too truly fearing the worst. 
They applied for help at a Barolong farm close at hand, and 
following the tracks were not long in discovering the two 
mangled bodies close to each other. The marks on the ground 
were quite distinct, and left no doubt that a lion had just 
quitted the spot. Probably it had only been scared away by 
their own approach, and they determined to continue the 
chase. After they had made their way for about ^ve hundred 
yards along the bank, they caught sight of a tawny object in a 
thicket just ahead. They hardly dared to hope that it was the 
creature of which they were in pursuit ; but simultaneously a 
number of them fired, and great was their triumph when they 
discovered amongst the bushes the carcass of a large lion 
pierced by six bullets." 

They were not destined, for the present, to fall in with any 
lions; but after listening to the old chief's cautions, profited 
by the words of advice, and took a path which was not infest- 
ed by these animals. The road by which they traveled led 
them through a country where the rain-pools were frequented 
by large herds of gnus, which Holub had some success in hunt- 
ing; although his hunts were not attended by any events of 
special interest. The progress of their wagon frequently 
alarmed the herds of blessbocks and zebras. Some of these 
made their way through the thickets in the glades, while 
others scampered off across the open plain to more distant 
shelter; the natives, who chanced to be with Holub's party 
temporarily, following in hot pursuit; while the Europeans, 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 257 

dismounted, followed eagerly on foot at a distance, to get a 
shot at the animals which the mounted Bartotongs were threat- 
ening with their assegais. 

Dr. Holub was not a little interested in the religion of the 
native tribes ; . or, rather, their lack of religion, for he says 
that they seem to have had no faith of their own, before the in- 
troduction of Christianity. Here, as elsewhere throughout Afri- 
ca, the people trust much to magic, and fear much the magic 
which is opposed to them. In spite of the efforts of the mis- 
sionaries, this fear clings to many of them. By others, again^ 
charms and incantations are viewed in their true light. Holub 
gives an instance of this, which occurred in 1866, among the 
Bechuanas of Shoshong. The word "moloi" means a magician 
or wizard, and is applied to one whose supposed power is ex- 
erted to work evil only : 

*' King Sekhomo was so jealous of the exceeding popularity 
of his son Khame that he determined to kill him. For this pur- 
pose he secretly engaged some moloi to go by night and enact 
their deadliest enchantments in front of Khame 's house. 
Awakened by the gleam of a fire just beyond his enclosure, 
Khame crept out and stood quietly viewing the preparations. 
One of the performers of the mysteries happened to look 
round, and catching the sight of Khame's face in the glare, 
gave a loud cry of surprise; this so startled his companions 
that they took to their heels. The young man came forward, 
smashed up all the magic apparatus, threw it as so much lum- 
ber upon the fire, which he stopped carefully to extinguish, 
and the next morning, to the chagrin of the king and the dis- 
comfiture of the moloi, made his appearance in the kotla as 
well and hearty as ever." 

From this little story it appears, that before you voodoo 
your enemy, you had better find out if your enemy is a good 
subject for such proceedings. 

Among the Bechuanas, he found two distinct tribes of 
slaves; the Makalahari and the Masarwas. The former are 
generally employed as domestic servants, but the Masarwas are 
perpetually engaged as hunters, a pursuit in which they are 
greater adepts than their masters. Like the Bushmen, between 
whom and the Bantu family they appear to be a link, they use 
bows and arrows, to which Bechuanas are little accustomed; 
they are very adroit also in the use of poisoned assegais, with 
which they will attack almost any animal. Indeed, a naked 
Masarwa, armed only with a couple of these poisoned darts, 
will not hesitate to face a lion. 



258 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 



We have not space to note the reception which Holub met 
with from Sechele and other chiefs whom Livingstone had 
taught Christianity and civilization. Stirring adventures and 
curious customs fill the bulk of his two volumes, and we can- 
not pause for that which is of lesser interest. We stop here 
to note a custom which obtains among the Bantu : 




Spoiled Magic. 

'* Held as of the highest importance by the heathen Bechu- 
ana is the rite of circumcision; until it has been submitted to, 
no youth is supposed to have arrived at man's estate, and no 
woman is considered of marriageable age. * * * * Call- 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 



259 



ed the ' hoguera,' the observance is put into force upon boys 
after they have reached their ninth year. The ceremony is 




performed at intervals varying from two to five years, accord- 
ing to the strength of the tribe ; the period of its enactment 
being held to be a time of great festivity in the towns. If the 
17 



260 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 



boys do not present themselves voluntarily, they are brought 
under compulsion, and as a preparatory office they are smear- 
ed all over with a solution of chalk; the girls wear nothing 
but belts made of pieces of reed or aprons of genets' tails, 
their breasts and faces being also whitened with chalk. The 
solemnization of the rite takes place outside of the town, old 
men acting as operators with the boys and old women with 
the girls. 




Training Bechuana Boys." 

** The hoguera happened to "be celebrated at the time of my 
visit to Shoshong, so that I had the best opportunity of be- 
coming acquainted with its details. Singing as they go, the 
young people of both sexes accomiDanied by the linyakas 
[medicine men] proceed beyond the town to the appointed 
spot, where the boys are put through a drill in manly exer- 
cises, and the girls are formally initiated into domestic duties, 
such as carrying wood and fetching water; throughout their 
performances they keep up their monotonous chant ; and as their 
figures are all white by the application of chalk, nothing can 
be imagined much more grotesque than the appearance they 
present as they go through their series of gymnastics. 

*'The boys are next marched off in detachments to the kot- 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 261 

la, where they all have to be beaten with rods. Bare of all 
clothing, except their little girdle and their sandals, which 
they are permitted to hold in their hands, they are placed in 
two rows, back to back, and made to kneel down whilst a man, 
generally their next of kin, stands in front of each and pro- 
ceeds to deliver his lashes, which the lads parry as best they 
can by the dexterous manipulation of their sandals ; they are 
required to keep on singing, and to raise each foot alternately, 
marking the measure of the chant. 

" All the youths who submit to the hoguera at one time are 
formed into a company, and the more sons a Bechuana can 
bring to the ceremony, the prouder he is. A chief will gener- 
ally try to introduce a son of his own or of a near relative to 
take command of the troop, and an es^jrit de corys is frequent- 
ly excited which sometimes has a beneficial effect upon the 
quarrels which arise at court. The friendship thus formed 
often remains unbroken, in spite of the commander avowing 
himself a Christian and being baptized. 

" The girls, so long as the ceremonial lasts, are not allowed 
to sleep ; to keep them awake, they are made to spend the 
night sitting upon wooden corn-pounders of which the equilib- 
rium is so unstable that the first attempt to get a wink of 
sleep sends the damsel toppling over. 

" The real object of the entire ceremonial is to discipline 
and harden the 3 oung, particularly the boys ; the rite is followed 
by a succession of hunting excursions, organized and kept up 
for several successive years ; the members of a company are 
told off into sets, and under the guidance of an experienced 
hunter are taken out first to chase antelopes and gazelles, and 
in course of time to pursue elephants and buffaloes. On these 
expeditions they are designedly exposed to many hardships ; 
they are compelled to make long marches through districts 
Avhere there is no water; only in exceptional cases are they al- 
lowed to approach the fire even in the severest weather, and 
they are forced to experience the long-continued pangs of 
hunger." 

While Dr. Holub's hunting adventures had, up to this time, 
been chiefly in the pursuit of the smaller game, and more for 
the purpose of making scientific observations than for the sake 
of sport, he was a diligent collector of the experience of oth- 
ers; and from the stories which he tells *'as 'twas told to 
him," we select and condense these two: 

In the year 1870, a Shoshong merchant sent two wagons to 
Zeerust, in charge of three c()k)nial half-breeds and a Banuuig- 



262 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 



wato slave. One of their resting-places was near the mouth 
of the Notuany River; here, indeed, they halted a longer time 
than was necessary for the mere repose of men and beasts ; 
for the heat of the day was excessive. One of the half-breeds, 
however, was not to be deterred from action by any such fear 
of discomfort; and followed by a pack of dogs, he set out on 
a short hunting-trip. Pressing along the shore, he was follow- 
ed for a while by his four-footed friends, but they soon desert- 
ed him; they had scented game, and yelping wildly they dart- 







The Lion at 



ed away. He paid no attention to them at first, but when it 
appeared that all were following the same scent with equal 
eagerness, he noted the direction, and cautiously followed 
them. Thick bushwood covered a portion of ground; here 
and there was a tree of larger dimensions, and some open 
spaces, covered with tall grass. The barking sounded clearer 
and clearer, and he quickened his pace. After a quarter of an 
hour, he found himself in the very presence of the game, and 
just in time to witness the beginning of the action. Surround- 
ed by a yelping pack of dogs, a few feet away, stood a full- 
grown, dark-maned lion, turning his majestic head first to this 
and then to that side, as the hoarse war-cry of the dogs, here 
and there, reached him. The hunter, under cover of the bush, 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 263 

crept up within fifty feet of the lion, where he could hear the 
gnashing of his teeth, varied by a low growl. He raised his 
gun and took aim ; but at that very moment, the largest dog, 
known in Shoshong as Hyena-killer, sprang forward to 
attack the king of the forest. A lightning stroke of 
the lion's paw felled the dog to the earth, the under part 
of his body showing a gaping wound from which the en- 
trails protruded. Alarmed at the fate of their leader the 
dogs scattered in all directions. The hunter's hand trem- 
bled perceptibly; he was obliged to kneel, and with all 
his strength to press his gun to his shoulder and cheek in 
order to obtain a sure aim. The lion rose and snuffed at his 
quivering victim; at that instant the bullet pierced his heart, 
and the royal beast fell on the very spot where he had killed 
his heroic assailant. 

Two friends, Boer farmers, went on a hunting expedition 
into the country infested by the tsetse fly. They came upon a 
herd of elephants which retreated at once. The hunters pur- 
sued, and found that the trail divided. Fourier, one of the 
farmers, with a Matabele slave, followed the trail of the larger 
number, while his friend followed the tracks of a single 
large male. He was the first to catch a glimpse of his game, 
after half an hour's progress through the wilderness. Fourier 
heard his shot as he fired at the elephant, and after fruitless 
endeavors to find the larger herd, returned to his friend only 
to find him a corpse, his face covered with the blood that had 
flowed from mouth, nose and eyes. His gun lay beside him, 
the stock burst, and about thirty feet away, under a tree, was 
the body of the elephant. The same charge which had sent 
the four-ounce bullet speeding on its way had caused the 
death of the hunter who held the imperfect weapon. 

Shoshong was the most northern point reached in this sec- 
ond trip. Returning thence, the adventurer again found it 
necessary to engage in the practice of medicine before he could 
set out on that journey which had been his real aim. He was 
now thoroughly well acquainted with the country as far as he 
had traveled ; he had become inured to the peculiar hardships 
of South African travel, and he had learned by experience what 
supplies were needed. His third, last and greatest trip ex- 
tended as far north as the Zambesi River. 

As far as Shoshong, the course need not be followed ; it was 
but a repetition of previous journeys. At this place, however, 
he visited a place of interest which he had not seen before ; 
this was the field where Khame had fought his father and 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 265 

brother. Sekhomo had been king at the time of his previous 
visit, and Khame, the same young man who had risen above 
the power of a malevolent parent's magic, his heir appar- 
ent. Sekhomo had been indefatigable in promoting heathen 
orgies, and had been the most determined enemy of every re- 
form that had tended to introduce the benefits of civilization. 
Two of his sons, Khame and Khanmne, having refused to take 
part in the boguera, he fairly drove them from his country for 
a while. Khame took refuge with Sechele, and the contest 
that ensued ended in the deposition of the father, and the 
recognition of the son as king. "Of course Sekhomo was ban- 
ished ; but it was not long before Khame regretted this severe 
sentence, and allowed his father to return to Shoshong, oil 
condition of keeping the peace. The ex-king returned, but 
did not hold to the condition; Khame was ultimately deposed, 
and went into a sort of voluntary exile to a point on the Zooga 
River, where being followed by great numbers of the people, 
he established a settlement. But the locality was marshy, and 
his followers were decimated by fever. He boldly announced 
that on a certain day he would return to Shoshong. Sekhomo 
made ready to receive the exile, who could only come as an 
enemy. His forces were divided into two bodies, one of which 
was to protect the town, while the main body was to intercept 
Khame's advance. His army was about equal to that of his 
son, although a considerable part of it was composed of allies 
from the Matabele country. These fugitive Makalakas proved 
utterly treacherous; for while they professed allegiance to 
Sekhomo, they secretly sent word to Khame that they 
would hold themselves in readiness to welcome him at 
the Shoshong pass. Khame's attack was so sudden that 
Sekhomo's men were completely demoralized; and before 
they had time to recover themselves and begin a retreat, 
Khame led his men to where the Makalakas were post- 
ed. These soldiers of fortune thought that Khame had been 
worsted and turned their weapons upon him in behalf 
of Sekhomo, whom they had voluntarily offered to betray. 
Khame's men discharged a single volley at these utterly 
unscrupulous traitors, and then rushed at them, and felled 
them with clubbed muskets. Khame was restored to the royal 
power; his exiled followers returned with him; and he set to 
work to root out many evils which had been tolerated by his 
father. His great reform was the prohibition of the sale of 
of brandy, a regulation which in Africa as well as elsewhere 
struck at the root of nianv disorders. 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAJS^ EXPLORER. 267 

Khame gave the traveler a guide northward to the great salt 
lakes, or to the Zambesi, should he desire to go so far; and 
furthered his journey in every possible way. Under this 
native's guidance, the way was free from adventure of an 
unpleasant kind. The country through which they passed, 
however, was not free from danger; an extract from his 
second volume will give an idea of the kinds of game with 
which they fell in : 

" On our Avay we passed a tree, the bark of which was torn 
in a way which showed that it had been used by lions for 
sharpening their claws; the boughs of the tree were wide- 
spreading, branching out like a candelabrum, and forming 
what struck me as a convenient perch. Here I resolved to 
keep a long watch of ten or twelve hours. I was determined 
if I could to see the lions for myself. Accordingly, just before 
sundown, I took Niger, and accompanied by Pit I returned to 
the tree, and having made myself comfortable in my conceal- 
ment, I sent Pit back to the wagon in time for him to arrive 
while it was still tolerably light. * * * * * * The nights 
were now extremely cold, and appeared especially so in con- 
trast to the high temperature of the day, and I took the pre- 
caution of tying myself to one of the strongest boughs, in case 
I should fall asleep ; to tumble off might bring me in closer 
contact with the monarchs of the forest than might be agree- 
able. * * * * Amongst the first of the sounds to arrest 
my attention was the sonorous " quagga, Cjuagga " of the male 
zebras; they were on the grass-plains, keeping watch over 
their herds; with this was soon mingled the melancholy hoAvl 
of the harnessed jackal, awaking the frightful yell of its 
brother, the gray jackal; the beasts, I could not doubt, were 
all prowling round the enclosure of our camp. For some 
hours the various noises seemed to be jumbled together, but 
towards midnight they became more and more distinct, so that 
I could identify them separately, and fancied that I could 
count the beasts that made them. After a while a peculiar 
scraping commenced, caused by rhyzaenas hunting in the sand 
for worms and larvae ; it went on all night except during the 
brief interval when the busy little creatures were temporarily 
disturbed by some movement near them. 

*' The gazelles and antelopes came down quite early to lick 
at the salt mud in the Nata-bed ; they evidently w^ere accus- 
tomed to get back to their haunts in the open lands before the 
beasts of prey quitted their lairs in the woods. Some of the lit- 
tle steinbocks (those most graceful of African gazelles) came 



268 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 



down so cautiously along the track that it was only through 
accidently looking down that I was aware of their being near 
me. I think there were three or four of them. They were 
followed by some other gazelle, of which the movepients were 
so light and rapid that I failed to catch a glimpse of it. After 
a considerable time an antelope passed beneath me, of another 
species larger than the others, making a succession of short 
leaps, then pausing and bounding on again, but I could not 
recognize what kind it really Avas. 




A Fruiths>< Night Vigil 

• 
" The slow, steady tramp of a large herd on the other side 
of the bank proceeding towards the salt pools, and in the 
direction of the one fresh-water pool, could not be mistaken; 
moreover, the crashing of their horns against the wood in the 
thickets left no doubt of the approach of a number of koo- 
doos. While I was listening to their movements I heard an- 
other tread on the game-path beside the river ; straining my 
eyes in that direction I saw a dark form stealthily making 
its way towards the descent ; it was about the size of a young 
calf, and I could have little doubt that it was a brown hyena; 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 269 

it sniffed the air at every step, and after stopping a few 
seconds just beyond the channel started off at a brisk trot. 

" As the hours of the night waned away I began to think that 
I should see or hear nothing of the monarch of the forest. I 
had not, however, to wait much longer before the unmis- 
takable roar, apparently about half a mile .away, caught my 
ear. I could only hope that the beast was on its way once 
more to sharpen its claws upon the accustomed tree. I had 
now no heed to give to any other sound ; neither the barking 
of our own dogs beside the wagon, nor the yelling of the jack- 
als around our encampment could distract my attention, and I 
listened eagerly about half an hour before the roaring was re- 
peated; it was now very much nearer; I listened on, and it 
must have been nearly twenty minutes before I distinguished 
its footsteps almost w^ithin gunshot. The lion was not in the 
ordinary track, as I expected, but right in the long grass in 
the rain-channel. Its strides were generally rapid, but it 
paused frequently. I could only hear its movements ; it was 
too dark for me too see. I was sure that it could not be more 
than about fifteen yards from me, and could hardly restrain 
m^^self from firing. I feared, however, that a random shot 
would only be fired in vain, and with no other effect than that 
of driving the lion away. Accordingly I waited on. It came 
still nearer and crouched down somewhere for about another 
quarter of an hour w^ithout stirring an inch. At last I became 
convinced that it had caught sight of me; I saw the bushes 
shake, and the great brute looked X)ut as if uncertain whether 
to make a spring towards me or to effect its escape. It was a 
terrible mistake on my part not to fire then and there, but my 
moment of hesitation was fatal to my design; the lion made a 
sudden bound, and in an instant had disappeared for good. It 
was no use to me that Niger's frantic barking made me aware 
w^hat direction it had taken. My chance was gone. I was 
much mortified, but there was no help for it. With the cold 
night air and my cramped position I was stiff all over, and 
much relieved when daylight dawned, and Pit appeared with 
Niger to accompany me back to the warmth and shelter of the 
wagon." , 

His way frora Tasetze to the Chobe was through the heart 
of an elephant country; and although they found many signs 
of the presence of the huge beasts, and more than once fol- 
lowed the trail of a considerable herd, they were not success- 
ful in killing any themselves. 

An interesting episode during this journey was his visit to 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 271 

the Marutse kingdom, a territory lying around the Zambesi 
Eiver. The king, Sepopo, had heard of his traveling through 
the country, and had many times inquired of those around 
him when the nyaka (doctor) was coming, to travel through 
the country like Monari (Livingstone). Since the visit of the 
great explorer he had seen at least fifteen white men, but he , 
determined to give Holub a more imposing reception than any 
of them. The reason for such a determination is not made 
clear; perhaps he had just got educated up to the point of 
liking white men. 

"The most notable part of the procession was the royal 
band ; on either side of the king were myrimba players bring- 
ing out the most excruciating sounds with a pair of short 
drumsticks from a keyboard of calabashes suspended from 
their shoulders by a strap ; these were preceded by men with* 
huge tubular drums, upon which they played with their fin- 
gers, accompanying the strains with their voices." 

The Marutse kindom is of considerable extent, and claims 
as tributaries several of the neighboring tribes. Dr. Holub 
remained some days with Sepopo, then took up his journey 
towards the river which flows through this kingdom, and Avhich 
was the bound of his journey — the Zambesi. On his way, he 
fell in with two English travelers, Capt. M'Leod and Fairley, 
with whom he joined company. He later became, along with 
these officers, member of a party of European traders, with 
whom he visited Victoria Falls, as the great cataract of the 
Zambesi had already been named by its discoverer. But we 
need not linger over his description of this grand spectacle ; 
we follow him, as he returns, on another visit to the Marutse 
kingdom. 

AYhile again at the court of Sepopo, he noticed a commotion 
one morning, and learned that four lions had made an attack 
upon the royal herd the night before, and a party was being 
organized for pursuing the robbers. Holub, with a young 
Englishman, Cowley, joined the hunters, who numbered about 
a hundred and seventy; although only four were provided with 
guns. 

It was decided that the track of the largest lion should be 
followed. A few natives and a couple of dogs were put on the 
trail, and the chief, together with the two white men, came 
next. The bushes, however, were so thick that no regular 
order could be kept up, and the hunters advanced as best they 
might. 

For more than an hour they followed the tracks, but with- 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 2.73 

out once catching sight of the game. The negroes began to 
joke about the lion, averring that he was ashamed to show his 
face; and the white men felt not a little disappointed. From 
this point, let Holub tell the story in his own way: 

*'0n leaving the next hollow the dogs commenced growling 
angrily, and made .a rush into another hollow beyond again, 
about ten feet deep and thirty feet wide. The condition of 
the trail satisfied us that the lion was concealed here close at 
hand. We made the crowd of natives halt, Maranzian [the 
chief] and I hastened round to the farther side and prepared 
to fire, Cowley staying on the nearer side, and sending the dogs 
into the reeds; but we schemed to no purpose; the baying of 
the hounds made us aware that the lion had got round behind 
us, and we were obliged to change our position. 

"Followed by the throng, we proceeded to the open space 
beyond the reeds, close to the spot in which we imagined that 
the lion was now concealed, and having chosen our places where 
we thought we had the best chance of firing at it On its escaj)e, 
we made the whole crowd shout at the top of their voices, and 
threw in bits of wood ; and when that proved ineffectual we 
ordered them, whether they liked it or not, to go into the 
thicket and rummage about with their spears. 

"It was a very pandemonium. The screaming and yelling 
of the negroes was quite unearthly, and the noise seemed to 
grow louder and more frightful as their courage increased at 
not finding any lion to alarm them. Maranzian, with his four 
men that had guns, was standing about twenty yards in front 
of me. We were beginning to think that we were again balk- 
ed, when, like a flash of lightning, a lioness made a tremend- 
ous spring out of its concealment, and then another spring as 
sudden into the very midst of the excited crowd of hunters. 
There were so many of them scattered about between me and 
the angry brute that it was out of the question to think of fir- 
ing, and it made another bound, and disappeared into another 
thicket close behind ; it knocked over several of the men, but 
fortunately it did not hurt any of them seriously. 

"Without the loss of a moment, Maranzian sent his men to 
drive the lioness to the very extremity of her new retreat. It 
rather surprised us to find the dogs perfectly silent as we fol- 
lowed them into the thicket, but before long we heard them 
barking vehemently in the open ground beyond; they had 
driven out the brute, and were in full pursuit. 

"As he saw the lioness bounding away in the distance, with 
the dogs at her heels, Cowley was terribly chagrined at having 



274 DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 

abandoned his former position, and sighed over his lost chance 
of adding to his rising renown as a lion-hunter. * * * * 
The climax was now at hand, and full of excitement it was. 
Again the lioness took refuge in a triangular thicket, with its 
vertex farthest from us. Close beside it was a sand-bank, 
some ten feet high. Maranzian, with a number of men, placed 
himself on the right side of the thicket; I took up my posi- 
tion on the left, Cowley stationing himself on the sand-bank 
at a point where he conceived the lioness when pressed by the 
negroes would try to escape. By encouraging w^ords, and 
where words failed by the use of a stout stick, Maranzian 
made a lot of men go and ransack the reeds, and as they 
tumbled about they gave the place almost the aspect of a 
battlefield. The excitement became more intense when there 
remained but one little corner to be explored. Now or never 
the lioness must be found. Suddenly there was an angry growl, 
and the beast leaped forward toward the pursuers. A shot 
was fired at that moment, but it only struck the sand; the 
negroes, taken by surprise, fell back, some of them disappear- 
ing altogether, a few of them desperately hurling their spears. 
Once again the lioness retreated, and when'the natives had re- 
covered themselves, they saw her crouching down as if pre- 
pared for another spring. Here was my chance; catching 
sight of her head, I took deliberate aim and fired; my shot 
took good effect, and at the same time a couple of spears hit 
her on the side. One more growl, and she was dead." 

It was now Holub's desire to make a trip up the Zambesi, 
and for this purpose four of the royal canoes were lent to him. 
Three of these were required to transport his baggage, and the 
fourth was reserved for his personal use, his servant being 
obliged to travel on foot. He was to accompany a party of 
queens who where taking a trip to the Barotse country; and his 
path was thus clear of all unpleasantness that could arise from 
the displeasure of the natives. 

All went well until they came to the Mutshila Aumsinga 
Rapids, which are formed by a considerable slope in the river 
bed, combined with the projection of numerous masses of rock 
above the water. The chief danger in crossing them, how- 
ever, arises from another cause. Between a wooded island 
and the left-hand shore are two side-currents about fifty yards 
broad, formed by some little islands at their head; and as no 
part of the rapids is shallow enough for the boats to be lifted 
across them, the strength of the rowers has to be put to the 
test by pulling against the full force of the stream. 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 



275 



'*The boat in which I was sitting happened to be the third 
in the order of procession. It carried my journals, all my 
beads and cartridges, and the present intended for native 
kings and chiefs. Like all my other boats, it was too heavily 
laden, and not adequately manned. The second boat just 
ahead of me carried my gunpowder, my medicines and provis- 
ions, and all the plants and insects that I had collected at 
Shesheke, the bulk of my specimens having been left with West- 
beech to send back to Panda ma Tenka. Observing that the 




Capsized in the Rapids. 

crew were experiencing the utmost difficulty in holding their 
own against the current, I shouted to them to catch hold of 
tlie branches of some over-hanging trees: I was most anxious 
to see them at least keep the bow in the right direction. My 
voice was lost in the roar of the waters. I could see that the 
oars of the men were slipping ofL the surface of the rock that 
was as smooth as a mirror, and that the men, although ob- 
viously aware of their peril, were paddling wildly and to no 
purpose at all. My heart misgave me. Nothing could save 
the boat; still I could not bring myself to believe that fate 
was about to deal so hardly with me. I could not realize that 
18 



276 DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 

just at the time that a threatening fever made me especially 
require my medicines, I was about to lose them all. I 
could not face the contingency of having my stock of provis- 
ions, on which I depended not only for the prosecution of my 
journey, but for my very maintenance, totally destroyed; 
neither could I resign myself to the loss of all the natural cu- 
riosities that I had labored for so many days to accumulate. I 
called vehemently upon my own crew to hasten to the rescue ; 
but they, in their alarm at the desperate plight of the others, 
were quite powerless; they were utterly bewildered, and were 
letting themselves drift into the fury of the current ; but hap- 
pily they were within reach of the drooping branches of a tree, 
which they clutched only just in time to make their boat se- 
cure. By this time, the boat in front had twisted around, and 
presented its broadside to the angry flood. Nothing could 
save it now. Heedless of the state of fever I was in, I should 
have flung myself into the current, determined to help if I 
could, had not the boatmen held me back. Not that any as- 
sistance on my part could have been of any avail, for in 
another moment I saw that the paddles were all broken, the 
men lost their equilibrium, and to my horror the boat w^as 
overturned. 

At the greatest risk, by the combined exertions of both 
crews, the capsized canoe was after some time set afloat again, 
and a few trifling articles were gathered up, but the bulk of 
my baggage was irrecoverably lost. Thus ended all my 
schemes; thus ended all my visions for the future." 

An hour after this misadventure, they landed near a Ma- 
bunda village, called Sioma, where they collected and arranged 
as a shelter the roofs of seven deserted huts. The natives, 
anxious for them to move on, told many stories of lions haunt- 
ing the neighborhood, and ravaging the village night after 
night ; but finding that the stranger was not alarmed by the 
prospect, became more hospitable. 

The accounts of the Mabundas had not been without a very 
substantial foundation, however; and the adventurer found it 
necessary to protect his collection of huts every night by 
means of a number of fires, around which his boatmen sat, 
spears in hand, awaiting the coming of the lions whose roar 
they could plainly hear, less than a hundred and fifty yards 
away. 

They were detained some time at Sioma, by the illness of 
Holub. At one time, he was convinced that he could not live 
through the night; but time disproved this. He became no 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 



277 



better, however, and at last decided that he must return to 
Shesheke, the capital of Sepopo. He gave ordeni that the 
boats should be made ready, and learned that they were pre- 
pared for the journey down the river. He was at first angry 
on hearing that his servants had presumed to do this without 
orders ; but his anger cooled down when he was told that they 
had received strict orders from Sepopo to consider the white 
man's health above everything else; he was a doctor, a ma- 
gician, and great harm might befall Sepopo and his people if 
Holub were to die while under their protection. 




A Boer^s Wife Defending Her Wagoji from Kaffirs. 

But even the return to Shesheke did not effect a cure ; and 
very reluctantly, the physician was obliged to admit to himself 
that he could not recover in this country. He accordingly set 
out on his return, the first stage of his journey being per- 
formed by means of boats descending the Zambesi. Joined 
by one of the ivory-traders w^ith whom he had become ac- 
quainted at Sepopo 's capital, an Englishman named West- 
beech, the trip was continued in wagons. 

His return route as far as Shoshong was a little different 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIA^^ EXPLGKER. 279 

from that by which he had traveled northward ; lying farther 
toward the east, it led him more among the Zulus and the out- 
lying dwellings of the Boers, where the contest between these 
two peoples is rarely quieted. He learned there why the 
Boers have not been driven from the country by these de- 
termined savages : the Boer women can fight as well as the 
men when necessity demands it. 

An incident which occurred at Tati may well be recorded 
here, as it is quite significant of what may be expected in this 
country, even in such settlements as might be thought reason- 
ably safe : 

Pit Jacobs, who had accompanied Holub on a former ex- 
pedition, had gone on a hunting trip with his two sons, leav- 
ing his wife, his daughter, two little boys, and a Masarwa ser- 
vant in the house. The dwelling contained but two rooms, 
the inner one of which was the sleeping apartment of the 
family. Mrs. Jacobs had put her two little boys to bed, and 
was lying down beside one of them. The daughter's fiance 
had called for an evening visit, and they were sitting in the 
living-room, where the window was open, and a kitten lying 
on the window-sill. 

A leopard was knownto be lurking about the village, and 
every fence ought to have been carefully guarded ; but by 
some means it had obtained access to Jacobs' enclosure, and 
made a spring at the kitten. Its intended prey saw it in time 
to • leap from the window sill and Jiide under the sewing- 
machine ; but the leopard had already sprung, and going too 
far, landed in the middle of the room where the lovers were 
sitting. 

The beast was as much alarmed at finding itself there as the 
people were to see it; and made for the bed-room, which 
seemed to it a haven of refuge. Mrs. Jacobs caught up the 
child that^was lying on her arm, and dashed out into the other 
room with it, demanding to know what animal it was; for in 
the imperfect light she could not tell. She would at once 
have returned for her other child, but they held her by force 
from what seemed a hopeless attempt. 

Such weapons as were at hand were hastily got hold of: 
the most available Avas an old assegai, which belonged to the 
servant. The lover took the spear, and followed closely by 
the others with a lantern, entered the bedroom. The beast 
was lying beside the child, who was sleeping as sweetly as if 
none but his mother and his brother were near. Seeing the light, 
the animal sprang at the man who was approaching it; its 



^80 DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 

claws fastened in his throat; the impetus of the spring was 
such that he lost his balance and fell backward, bearing the 
women to the floor in his fall. The leopard, bewildered at 
such a state of things, and seeing the way for escape clear, 
bounded through the open door and the window, and was seen 
no more. 

The human participants in this adventure picked themselves 
up, and congratulated themselves that the really terrible dan- 
ger was past. 

The journey from Shoshong to the diamond fields was with- 
out special adventure, although toward the last they were 
obliged to travel night and day, through storm as well as good 
weather, to reach their destination before the rivers should 
have become entirely impassable from the rains. They reached 
Kimberley late in November, 1877, Dr. Holub being quite 
prostrated from the fever, which had never wholly left him 
through all this weary return journey from Shesheke. 

Here he was obliged to remain for some time, the reason 
being that which had frequently detained him from adventure 
before — the lack of money. A gift from the Emperor of Aus- 
tria of a thousand florins, from the Bohemian National Society 
of £60, of two hundred florins from the Svatabor Club, and a 
loan of one thousand florins from a lady, placed him in a po- 
sition to leave the diggings much sooner than he had expected 
to be able to do so. Yet it was only in August, 1879, that he 
finally embarked for Europe. 

Holub traversed a country which had previously been ex- 
plored, and w^hich was visited by w^hite traders ; his travels, 
then, have added nothing to our knowledge of the topography 
of Africa. But his persistent scientific zeal has taught us 
more of the botany and zoology of this section of the continent 
than we have derived from any other source. His ethnologi- 
cal specimens were collected from about thirty different tribes ; 
and his natural history collection amounted to more than- thir- 
ty thousand different articles. A selection of 12,500 of the 
latter was exhibited in Vienna shortly after his return to his 
native country. 

Added to this service to science, his volumes give us a 
clearer picture of the condition of the country at a compara- 
tively recent date than can be obtained from any other single 
authority. It is mainly for this reason that we have included 
so much in the present volume from his first work, " Seven 
Years in South Africa." 

But Dr. Holub was not content with what he had done ; he 



BR. HOLUB, THIC AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 281 

was anxious to explore, as well as to note new botanical and 
zoological forms. Accordingly, in November, 1883, he again 
sailed for the Cape, accompanied by his wife, who was not yet 
twenty. Six other Europeans accompanied the expedition, to 
which the Emperor of Austria and several scientific societies 
contributed funds. The greater part of the expense, however, 
was borne by the explorer himseK; but notwithstanding the 
variety of sources from which the money was derived, there 
was not enough to fit out the expedition properly, and many 
of their difficulties were owing to their poverty; servants 
were parted with for the lack of money with which to pay 
them ; and they had not always the means of conciliating the 
native chiefs by presents w^hich the dusky rulers thought ap- 
propriate to their condition. 

They were delayed for several months in Cape Colony by 
various circumstances, but at last made their way through 
Bechuana-land. It was Dr. Holub's intention to explore the 
country around the Zambesi, hoping that his previous inter- 
course with the Marutse chiefs had paved the way for success 
in this enterprise. But he found the Marutse engaged in wars 
among themselves, and with neighboring tribes. 

Sixty oxen had been purchased at the Cape, and were to be 
used for the transportation of the party and of the specimens 
which were collected. Their diligence in scientific research 
may be judged by the fact that before many months had 
elapsed, before indeed the main difficulties were encountered, 
twenty-five cases of botanical and zoological specimens were 
sent home to Vienna. 

Half of their oxen died, either from the bite of the tsetse or 
from eating the poisonous machau plant; the leader and his 
companions w^ere attacked with malaria in its worst form, 
African Fever ; three of them succumbed ; the five who were 
left alive suffered from diphtheria, dysentery, and rheu- 
matism, the after effects of the fever. Mrs. Holub, brave and 
energetic little woman that she was, became so ill that she 
was utterly unable to go on, and begged them to leave her 
there to die, since a longer stay might result in the death of 
all the party; but weak and sick as they were, they toiled 
along, carrying the lady until she was once more able to ride 
and walk. Eight months were spent on the south bank of the 
Zambesi, during which time but little was accomplished be- 
cause of sickness. 

Three weeks were spent at Victoria Falls, after the mem- 
bers of the expedition had been restored to comparative 



282 



BR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 



health; and thence, after considerable difficulty in obtaining 
carriers, they pushed on toward the Luenge. 

In this new country, however, they found that their troubles 
were increased. Dr. Holub had relied greatly upon his med- 
ical skill as a means of conciliating the natives; but these 
tribes were inclined to look upon it as a sort of magic, which 
could not be- altogether trusted. Many of their goods were 
stolen; and when they invoked the aid of the chief in recov- 
ering them, they found that gentleman extremely apathetic 
regarding their loss. Later investigations disclosed that half 
the stolen goods had been made over to him by the thieves, as 
the price of his consent to their actions. 

Not content to share in these 
ill-gotten spoils, this chief, Ni- 
ambo, coveted what was left to 
the explorer; perhaps he ad- 
mired Mrs. Holub. At any 
rate, some milk which he fur- 
nished them had a queer taste ; 
some of it was given to a dog, 
by v/ay of experiment ; in a few 
minutes the dog was dead. 

This was an unmistakable 
hint to leave ; and they lost no 
time in doing so. In their haste 
to be gone secretly, they were 
unable to ascertain a safe road, 
and were lost in a marsh not 
far from Niambo's village. 
From this they were guided by 
some natives, more compassionate than their neighbors. The 
representations of these people Avere to the effect that at two 
days ' journey distance there was a Portuguese settlement. It 
was therefore decided that Dr. Holub and his wife should 
push on toward it, and obtain help there for the others. 
After a toilsome journey of the required length, they learned 
that the Portuguese settlement was two days ' journey from the 
boundaries of the Marutse kingdom, and these boundaries 
were still at an indefinite distance. Footsore and weary, they 
retraced their steps, to find that the camp was even then being 
attacked by the Mashukulumbe. They managed to reach their 
party, and Dr. Holub's first thought was how to save his 
diaries. Thirty-two precious volumes were in his hut, but of 
these he was able to save but fourteen. 




Mrs. Holub. 



DR. HOLUB, THE AUSTRIAN EXPLORER. 28S 

Even when attacked unprovoked, it was no part of his plans 
to massacre the natives. Throughout the journey, the mem- 
bers of the party had been strictly forbidden to fire upon the 
people, unless in self-defense; and up to this time, not a gun 
had been discharged at any but the lower animals. Now, the 
order was given: "Wound, but do not kill," and scrupu- 
lously obeyed. The Mashulukumbe were finally driven off, 
but probably only to return with a larger force w^hile the camp 
was asleep. The white man therefore determined to beat a 
retreat; the party crept through the reeds to the river-bank; 
but how to cross the stream? A small boat was visible on the 
opposite side, but the river was full of crocodiles, and the 
men shrank from the danger. At last, however, for the bribe 
of a gun, one of the native servants agreed to swim the stream 
and bring the canoe across. Accomplishing the dangerous 
part of his task in safety, he discovered a larger boat, w4iich 
had not been visible from the other bank, and the two were 
appropriated by the fugitives. In three hours after reaching 
the bank, they were all safely across the river. 

It was now certain that they could not attempt to explore 
the country between the Zambesi and Bangweolo, as Holub 
bad wished to do ; and they bent all their efforts toward reach- 
ing civilization again. In miserable plight, their feet wounded 
by the rough road, they reached the Zambesi August 22, 1886. 
The natives of the village of Mala showed them a short cut, 
but nevertheless, they were three months in descending the 
Zambesi, following its course on land. Arrived at the settle- 
ment, Westbeech, an English trader wnth whom, it will be 
recollected. Dr. Holub had had some acquaintance on his pre- 
vious trip, lent them a span of oxen with which to make their 
journey to the Cape. 

These animals, however, were bitten by the tsetse before 
they reached their destination; and this fact, together with 
other causes, made their journey to Shoshong occupy a period 
of seventy days. Thence the way was easy to Cape Town. 
They sailed for Europe in August, 1886, and reached Vienna 
in safety, ready to arrange and prepare their specimens of 
plants and animals, and then, probably, to leave for Africa 
again ; for the man once imbued with the enthusiasm of the 
explorer is rarely content to end his days in peace at home. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



CHRISTIAjY MISSIOjYS IJY AFRICA. 

'HE forms of religious beliefs professed by the inhabitants 
of Africa may be classed under three heads — Christian, 
Mohammedan, and pagan. The second form of faith 
was propagated in this continent at a very early period of 
Mohammedan history; and we find professors of it among 
many tribes which are not far removed from a state of sav- 
agery. These, however, are only nominally Mohammedans; 
in their gross superstitions, their ignorance, and their revolt- 
ing practices, they are really pagans; and their profession of 
belief in the Prophet of Islam only serves to bring contempt 
upon his teachings, as too many who call themselves by a 
holier name bring contempt, by the manner of their lives, upon 
the religion which they profess. 

It is difficult to speak in general terms of the faiths which 
are classed under the head of pagan. Some tribes appear to 
have a confused and gross belief in a future life ; others de- 
clare that death ends all. Cthers, again, believe in the trans- 
migration of souls, and hold certain animals in reverence, as 
inhabited by the souls of dead friends. The negroes on the 
equatorial western coast of Africa believe that the souls of 
men frequently pass into gorillas, and that such animals are 
too cunning for the hunter. Some people have a well defined 
belief in a superior Being, who is good and beneficent; others, 
again, while they believe in spirits, cannot imagine one that is 
not malevolent; and are perpetually in terror of all supernat- 
ural agencies. But whatever rank these various religions may 
hold in point of purity or approach to reason, there is one 
thing in which they all agree: all teach a belief in magic, by 
whatever name it may be called ; and the sorcerer is a person 
to be feared, the diviner to be honored. 

One particular form of this belief in magic is Fetichism, or 

284 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 



285 



the belief in charms. A European explorer of recent years 
relates that on one occasion, when he had become unconscious 
from the effects of fever, he found, upon recovering his senses, 
that he was almost literally covered with the charms which his 
faithful servitors had believed would restore him to health. 
But it was not even an opportunity for a faith cure ; for he 
cast aside the. antelope's horns, elephant's teeth and similar 
articles, and took a dose of quinine. The present writer is 
not prepared to say what are the peculiar virtues of the vari- 
ous fetiches, or whether the Africans are so ridiculous as to 
hang a horse-shoe over the stable-door for luck, and carry a 
horse-chestnut in the pocket (those of them who wear clothes) 
to ward off rheumatism. 

From their universal belief in spirits, and that prevailing 




Natives Worshiping a Clay Idol. 

impression that spirits cannot be beneficent, arises what has 
been styled devil-worship. Much of that to which this name 
is applied is properly so called, since it is an effort to propiti- 
ate bad spirits; it may be that ignorance of their language and 
customs has caused some genuine worship of a Good Being to 
be so designated ; since the stranger would suppose the god^so 
worshipped to be, necessarily, a false one. 

We have already had occasion to speak of the evangelization 
of Abyssinia; in connection with that, we have alluded to the 
eJtforts of the Portuguese missionaries. These followed close 
upon the earliest explorers — indeed, in many cases the explor- 



286 CHRISTIAN 3I1SSIONS IN AFRICA. 

ers were missionary monks, who were willing to brave every 
danger and hardship for the extension of their faith. As in 
later days, they were met with bigoted persecution by the 
Mohammedans, and with an appalling indifference by the 
natives. The pagans would sometimes, it is true, embrace 
the proffered faith 'readily enough, to all outward seeming; 
but when it came to the test, and they were required by their 
religious teachers to give up some old practice, like polygamy 
or idolatry, they would relapse into paganism. 

In 1481, the king of Portugal sent ten ships with five hun- 
dred soldiers and one hundred laborers, together with "a 
proper complement of priests," to Elmina. The mission thus 
founded lingered on for a period of 241 years, but does not 
seem to have made any impression upon the natives, except 
those who were immediately dependent upon the whites at the 
station. Finally, in 1723, the mission of the Capuchins at 
Sierra Leone was given up, and they disappeared altogether 
from West Africa. Whatever influence they may have had at 
the time has left no permanent traces. 

An effort was made by the same authority to establish a mis- 
sion station at the mouth of the Congo; but the natives prov- 
ed too thoroughly wedded to their immoral practices to be 
really desirous of a purer mode of life. Somewhat of the story 
might be told, did our space admit; but the end is wrapped in 
darkness; vessels came from Portugal, and found that the 
missionaries had disappeared, and no one could or would tell 
them how. 

Portuguese missionaries also penetrated as far as Abyssinia, 
and succeeded in effecting a temporary conversion of the 
rulers to their faith ; but as the Abyssinians professed Chris- 
tianity before the advent of these strangers, a history of their 
effort hardly belongs in an account of African missions. 

The earliest Protestant efforts for the evangelization of 
Africa were made in 1736. In that year the Moravians de- 
termined to send out a missionary to the southern part of this 
great continent. The next year, George Schmidt arrived at 
the mouth of Sergeant's River. Though opposed and perse- 
cuted both by the government of the colony and by the native 
chiefs, he persevered, and at last succeeded in establishing a 
mission at Genadenthal, one hundred and twenty miles north 
of the Cape. The results of nine years' labor showed that 
forty-seven families had professed Christianity, and received 
baptism. He then returned to his native Holland, to seek for 
assistance; but not only did he find no others who would join 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN AFRICA. ^87 

him, but for some unexplained reason, he was not allowed to 
return. He passed the remainder of his days as a poor day- 
laborer in Germany, "with his heart in that southern land 
which he was never to see again." 

In 1792, the Brethren obtained permission to resume the 
work in South Africa, and in that year three artisans were sent 
to the same place. They found the walls of Schmidt's house 
still standing, and among the first to welcome them was a poor 
old blind woman, who had been a pupil and convert of 
Schmidt's fifty years before, and who now brought to them the 
Testament which she had cherished since the departure of the 
missionary. If the Moravian Brethren had been disposed to 
regard the worklightly, this would have been enough to kindle 
their zeal. The good work went on. More missionaries were 
sent out. Other stations were opened. In less than a century 
after the re-establishment of the mission at Genadenthal, the 
Brethren had forty-three missionaries, with two hundred 
native helpers, in this part of Africa. They have also numer- 
ous schools and colleges in successful operation, with between 
eight and nine thousand adults and children under pastoral 
care. 

On the west coast, the efforts of the Moravians were less 
successful. . Beginning there at the same time that Schmidt 
went to South Africa, five different attempts were made to es- 
tablish missionary stations ; but they were made at the cost of 
eleven lives. Finally, in 1770, the effort was given up. 

The Methodists were the next to seek to occupy the field. 
In the Minutes of the Conference for 1792, we find Africa, for 
the first time, set down as one of the missionary stations, 
Sierra Leone being the point selected. Four years later, the 
names of A. Murdoch and W.. Patten are set down as mission- 
aries to the Foulah country. 

In 1798, the London Missionary Society sent out four mis- 
sionaries, who arrived at the Cape the next year. Of these the 
most remarkable was Dr. Vanderkemp, who for years endured 
great hardships in his work of preaching the gospel to "his be- 
loved Hottentots." But the most notable (with one great 
exception) of the missionaries sent out by this society was Rob- 
ert Moffat 

He was a young man of but twenty-two when he offered 
himself for the work. Of his early training we have not space 
to say much; but volumes are toldof the influences which had 
surrounded him at home, in the answer of his parents when he 
asked their consent to engage in this work: "We have 



288 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 



thought of your proposal to become a missionary; we have 
prayed over it; and we cannot withhold you from so good a 
work." He never had any formal theological training; and 
seems, indeed, to have had but slight acquaintance with 
schools generally. 




Rev. Robert Moffat. 

Great Namaqua-land was to be the scjpne of his earliest la- 
bors ; a region where there had already been some effort at 
evangelization, so that the chief Africaner was thought to give 
evidence that would warrant a hope of his conversion. The 
missionary, of course, had landed at Cape Town; and the 
journey across Cape Colony was both toilsome and adventur- 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 



289 



ous. It was late in January, 1818, when he arrived at African- 
er's kraal, on the banks of the Orange River. 

No sooner was he told that a w^hite man had come, than 
Africaner appeared and demanded if Moffat were the mission- 
ary wdio had been promised. Receiving an answer in the 
affirmative, he turned to two women standing by, and com- 
manded them to build a house for the missionary at once. 







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Moffat Preaching to the Natives. 

They went to work with an alacrity that showed how 
pleasing the task was; and in an hour's time the *'house" was 
finished. It is true that it was not a very substantial edifice ; 
composed of native mats hung on poles, it was a shelter from 
neither rain nor sun, and frequently required extensive repairs 
after a storm. A dog could push aside the mats and enter at 
will; sometimes such an uninvited visitor would help himself 
to the missionary's stock of provisions for the next day. *'Nor 
were these all the contingencies of such a dwelling; for as the 
cattle belonging to the village had no fold, I have been com- 
pelled to start up from a sound sleep, and try to defend my- 
self and my dwelling from being crushed to pieces by the rage 
of two bulls which had met to fight a nocturnal duel." 



290 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IX AFRICA. 



But the hut, rude and unsubstantial as it was, was the best 
that they knew how to build; and Moffat felt himself more 
than repaid for such slight evils as bodily discomfort when 
the chief Africaner became an earnest Christian, and zealously 
seconded the efforts of the young missionary to teach his peo- 
ple not only the Gospel, but those lessons of industry and 
cleanliness which so powerfully assist the missionary in all 
countries to emphasize the blessings which his religion would 
teach the world. 

Several efforts were made to find a place which would be 
more suitable for a missionary station than Africaner's kraal; 
it was desired to reach other peoples more directly ; but these 
efforts were not successful. Finally, it Avas decided that Afri- 
caner's two brothers, who proved to be able and willing as- 
sistants, should conduct the services at the kraal when Mof- 
fat found it necessary to absent himself on missionary tours. 

These he made frequently. The mis- 
sionary rode a borrowed horse, to the 
back of the saddle of which Avas tied 
a blanket, in which was wrapped his 
Bible and hymnbook. His guide rode 
an ox. They were not encumbered 
with useless baggage ; they carried on- 
ly a pipe, some tobacco, and a tinder- 
box — for it was before the days of 
matches. Their living they managed 
to get wherever they might be. After 
a day's ride through the hot sun, they 
would ask a drink of milk at the vil- 
lage to which they came; and then, 
assembling the people in a corner of 
the cattle-fold, the missionary would 
tell the glad tidings he had come so 
far to bring. His sermon done, and 
some talk held with the people indi- 
vidually, the preacher would lie doAvn 
on a mat in the corner of a hut for the 
night. After another address in the 
morning, the preacher and his companion would ride on to- 
ward another village, where the same thing would be repeated. 
Often their only breakfast was a drink of milk and sometimes, 
on arriving in the evening at a point where they had expected 
to find a village, -they would discover that lack of grass and 
water had compelled the inhabitants to drive their flocks and 




African Superstition — 
A Sham Devil, 



CHKISTIAN MISSIONS 11^ AFRICA. 291 

herds, and remove their rude huts and few belongings to some 
other point. 

Moffat spent forty years in this work; and lived to see the 
missionary stations pushed as far as the head- waters of the 
Limpopo, in twenty-four degress south latitude ; Kolobeng be- 
ing then the farthest station in the interior. His daughter be- 
came the wife of the most famous African missionary — David 
Livingstone. It is useless here to follow his work in detail, 
since the country which he traversed has been explored by 
travelers who have noted more closely than he the character- 
istics of the country, because they were less concerned with 
the welfare of the people. Moffat was, above all else, a mis- 
sionary; that work, in his eyes, far transcended anything else 
in importance ; hence there is but little space for him in a vol- 
ume on the history of African exploration. 

In regard to the missionary labors of Livingstone, we shall 
here say nothing ; but when he returned to England after his 
first great journey and long residence in Africa, his account of 
his experiences gave a greater impulse to the missionary effort 
for this part of the world than anything else had ever done. It 
is in place to sum up the results of ninety years ' labor by the 
emissaries of the London Missionary Society in Africa. There 
are about twenty principal stations, with fifty-two branches, 
including the Tanganyika mission in Central Africa. One of 
the chief stations, Kuruman, seven hundred and fifty miles due 
north from the Cape, was founded by Moffat and Hamilton in 
1817; it was here that Livingstone found a church-house, a 
well-stocked garden, and a printing-press — evidences of civili- 
zation that surprised the newly arrived missionary not a little. 
It was here, too, that he found Mary Moffat, who had not then 
(1840) dreamed that she would one day become Mary Living- 
stone. 

Twenty-five English missionaries and something more than 
a hundred native preachers carry on the work so nobly begun, 
and the stations of the society now have forty-two schools, 
with more than two thousand pupils. The communicants 
number nearly twenty-five thousand. 

The Dutch Reformed Church is naturally, from the number 
of Boers there resident, a strong one in South Africa; and 
from the settlements as a basis, missionaries have gone out 
among the surrounding tribes, until between four and five 
thousand of the aborigines have been brought into the church, 
while more than twenty thousand others are under instruc- 
tion. 
19 



292 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 



In addition to these agencies, the Methodist Missionary 
Society, another English association, has done much work in 
South Africa, beginning in 1815. Its circuits now present an 
unbroken chain of coast stations from the Cape to Zululand. 
Their adherents number nearly a hundred thousand, of whom 
about one-fifth are communicants. They are also largely 
represented in the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. 




Grave of Bishop Mackenzie, with Cross Made of Slave- Yokes. 

The Glasgow Missionary Society, which, like the London 
association of a similar aim, was intended to represent the 
work of Christians irrespective of denominational differences, 
began its work in South Africa in 1821, when two missionaries 
were sent out. Two years later, the most notable of their mis- 
sionaries. Rev. John Ross, began those ministrations which 
only ceased with his death in 1878. The work of the society's 
successors is carried on chiefly in Kaffraria. Frequent out- 
breaks among hostile tribes have greatly impeded the work of 
the missionaries, and the Kaffir AYar was a serious hindrance. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 293 

But still it has been carried on, and extended into Zululand. 

When Livingstone had aroused enthusiasm in England in re- 
gard to African mission work, the two great universities, Ox- 
ford and Cambridge, resolved to institute a mission at the 
mouth of the Zambesi. Bishop Mackenzie was selected to take 
charge of it; and accompanied by six Englishmen, and five 
colored men from the Cape, he arrived at the scene of his in- 
tended labors in 1861. But he was not long to work here. 
He became entangled in the terrible slavery broils, and made 
frequent trips to a country far from healthful; he contracted 
a fever through these journeyings, which was neglected because 
the press of his duties was so great. He sank rapidly, and died 
in the hut of a native, situated on the edge of a dark forest. 
His companion read the burial service over his body; but in a 
few days more, he too was cut down by the terrible fever, and 
was buried in that strange land. Another and another fell 
victims to the climate, and in 1862 the attempt was, for the 
time, given up. It has since been revived, however, and a 
mission instituted, with head-quarters at Zanzibar, and twelve 
laborers in the field, with as many assistants. 

Shortly after the death of Livingstone, the Free Church of 
Scotland resolved to establish a memorial mission. Living- 
stoniawas adopted as the name, and the southern end of Lake 
Nyassa as the site. Ten thousand pounds was the sum sub- 
scribed, and the Free Church of Scotland, the Established 
Church of Scotland and the United Presbyterian Church 
united in the enterprise. The work received a severe blow 
when Dr. Black, a young man of great promise, died; his last 
words were: *' Africa must not be given up, though it should 
cost thousands of lives." True to this watchword, the work 
in this section has been carried on with unextinguishable zeal ; 
and a companion mission station called Blantyre established 
some two hundred miles from Livingstonia. 

We now return to West Africa, which was, as we have seen, 
the scene of the earliest missionary efforts in the continent. 
The missions extend from the mouth of the Gaboon to the 
mouth of the Senegal, including Senegambia, Liberia, Sierra 
Leone, the Gold Coast, Dahomey, and Lower Guinea. The 
most northern part, that originally settled by the French", 
is occupied by the Paris Evangelical Society. South of this 
the English Wesleyans and the Church Missionary Society 
have established themselves in flourishing missions. Liberia, 
with its coast line of about six hundred miles, is occupied 
chiefly by Americans of various denominations. The Gold 



294 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 



Coast and Ashantee missions have about fourteen thousand 
communicants. It is no small evidence of the success of the 
missions in this section, that natives should have been fitted 
for carrying on the work. The Rev. Samuel Crowther was, 
we believe, the first African who received a thorough theologi- 
cal education in Europe. He Avas ordained by the Bishop of 
London as a missionary to Sierra Leone, and went immediately 
to his field of labor. He preached his first English sermon in 
Africa in the last month of the year 1843; and at the begin- 




Rev. Henry Johnson, Archdeacon oj the Upper Niger. 

ning of the following year established a service in the language 
of the country. It was Mr. Cro^vther who laid the foundations 
for the great scheme of the Niger Mission, the success of which 
is attested by the fact that a native of this section has become 
arch-deacon. Crowther Avas consecrated bishop in later years, 
and has proved an able and worthy director of the evangelistic 
effort. 

South of this territory occupied by the Church of England, 
we find the old Calabar Mission of the United Presbyterian 
Church of Scotland, and still farther south, the field occupied 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 295 

by the members of the same denominations living in the United 
States. 

The American Board for Foreign Missions began its work 
on the west coast of Africa in 1834, by establishing a station 
at Cape Palmas. 

The same point has been chosen as a station by the American 
Episcopalians, who have also stations at other places not far 
distant. 

The efforts of the Baptists of this country have been most 
vigorous in Liberia and the Yarriba country, where churches 
and schools have been established, and much good has been 
accomplished among the natives of the vicinity. 

The Rhenish Missionary Society, which was established ^t 
Barmen, Prussia, in 1828, chose the southern part of Africa 
for its field of labor; and its missionaries are now found in the 
country occupied by the Hottentots, the Bushmen, the Nama- 
quas and the Hereros. A distinguishing feature of this mis- 
sion is, that it is nearly or quite self-supporting. 

The Berlin Missionary Society, four years older than that 
just mentioned, has its most flourishing missions among the 
people of the Transvaal, the Bapedi and other Basuto tribes ; 
although its stations are spread over an area of five hundred 
by one thousand miles. Dr. Krapf , the well-known mission- 
ary, has always been specially interested in the work of this 
society, and was for several years the president of its college 
at Berlin. 

Egypt was the scene of many efforts at missionary labor, but 
has not proved an encouraging field. Only the United Pres- 
byterian Church of the United States has really been success- 
ful in maintaining missions there. Two English societies have 
made efforts to convert the Abyssinians from that corruption of 
faith which is derived from the Greek Church, but greatly 
changed during the many centuries since they held converse 
with other Christians. Two missionaries were sent there in 
1829 ; but one of them died the following year; and the other, 
finding the country so disturbed by tribal wars that nothing 
could be accomplished, returned to England. He went back 
again, however, in 1834, and, with a colleague, translated the 
New Testament into the Abyssinian language ; but beyond this 
but little progress was made. Shortly before this. Dr. Krapf 
had reached the northeast coast, and engaged in the work of re- 
viving the mission there. Their labors, although unfruitful in 
other respects, have given the people the Bible in their own 
language. 



296 CHEISTIAN' MISSIONS IX AFRICA. 

Since the French occupation of Liberia in 1830, that mil- 
itary settlement has been the base of several missions by the 
French priests. In 1846, Cairo became the starting-point of 
an exploratory mission which professed to include Nubia from 
Khartoom, Kordofan, and the whole Soudan. In 1878, almost 
the first act of Pope Leo XIII. was to issue a rescript to the 
Algerian missions, directing them to evangelize the whole 
breadth of Central Africa from Zanzibar to the mouth of the 
Congo, which the International Association is exploring. 
Lake JSTyassa, Lake Tanganyika, Kabebe and the North Congo 
were fixed upon as missionary centers. The Jesuits have made 
similar attempts on the Upper Zambesi, but at a terrible ex- 
pense of money and life. 

Of the International Society for the Evangelization of Afri- 
ca, of which the king of the Belgians is the head, we need not 
speak here ; since an account of that will more properly come 
in the history of its leading spirit, Henry M. Stanley. It is 
sufiicient to say, as an apology for the briefness with which 
much important work is mentioned in the foregoing pages, 
that there are no less than thirty-three distinct missionary 
agencies at work in Africa at the time of the present writing. 
By consolidation the work may be carried on more systematic- 
ally than ever. 

There is yet one portion of Africa, if an outlying island can 
be called a portion of a continent, which has not yet been 
mentioned. The history of missions in Madagascar is a story 
well worth the telling, were it only for the intense dramatic 
interest which clothes it. The first missionaries were two 
Welshmen, David Jones and Samuel Bevan, who went out, 
with their families, in 1818. Unfortunately, however, they 
landed at such an unhealthy spot that all took the fever so 
common there ; and Jones was the only survivor of the party. 
He went back to England; but returned in 1820. The king, 
Radama L, was not a Christian, but he saw the benefits which 
Christianity and civilization brought to a country, and was de- 
termined that Madagascar should share them. It was he who 
invited the missionaries there ; he took great interest in their 
efforts to reduce the native tongue to a- written language, pre- 
paratory to making a translation of the Bible ; and even issued 
a proclamation that no letter of the new alphabet should have 
more than one sound. In less than ten years, the work of 
translation had been accomplished, and fifteen thousand 
native youths were able to read their own language. Many 
of these had been converted to Christianity. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 297 

But the death of the great and good heathen king, Eadama, 
brought dark days for the infant Church. His nephew and 
heir was suspected by the nobles of a leaning toward Chris- 
tianity; they therefore concealed Kadama's death as long as 
they could; and finally placed his senior wife, Ranavalona, on 
the throne. She has been called " the Bloody Mary of Mad- 
agascar;" during her reign, from twenty to thirty thousand 
persons each year fell victims to her rule. Her reign lasted 
thirty-two years, and during that time nearly one-half of the 
population was swept away. War was declared against the 
Christians in 1834 ; up to that time they had been tolerated be- 
cause they taught the people to become good artisans ; but 
now, one month was given them, in which to recant. The 
missionaries left the island; the people, deprived of their 
teachers, met by stealth in their houses or in lonely glens and 
on mountain-tops. Open persecution began. A. ycing woman 
was the first martyr; she was dragged to execution August 14, 
1837. Of the effect of this upon the people, we need only say 
that it was what such martyrdoms have ever produced; some 
recanted; others believed the more firmly because of her con- 
stancy. 

Five years passed by, and the persecution continued. Then 
a friend was raised up, in the perse ii of Eadama, the prince 
royal. He interceded for those cor demned to die, and suc- 
ceeded in securing a commutation of the sentence. But after 
his first effort, the persecutions went on again. Those who 
were condemned had their mouths stuffed full of rags, to pre- 
vent their speaking to the people of their faith. Four were 
burned alive ; fourteen others were carried to the edge of a 
cliff, three hundred feet high, situated near the palace and 
called Ampamarinana, and hurled over its edge. All save one 
of them shared this fate. This one was a young woman 
named Ranivo. She was entreated to take the oath, but re- 
fused, and demanded that she should be allowed to suffer 
martyrdom. They quailed before her heroism, and her life 
w^as saved. The people w^ere astonished at such devotion; 
and for a time even the queen gave them a brief respite. 

In 1853, Eadama w^as appointed prime minister; and used 
his power for the amelioration of the condition of the Chris- 
tians. The London Missionary Society sent out two mission- 
aries, who could do nothing beyond confirming and encourag- 
ing the party favoring Christianity. That which was opposed 
to the religion of the cross was still too strong to be opposed 
with much success. 



298 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 

A fourth persecution was brought about. by a seditious effort 
of a Frenchman, whose attempt to dethrone the queen, although 
it had no connection with the i^arty favoring Christianity, was 
made the pretext for renewed severities. But at last, in July, 
1861, the long and terrible reign of Ranavalona came to an 
end; and Radama II. ascended the throne. Before the sun 
had set on the day of his accession, he had proclaimed liberty 
throughout the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof. The 
brightest hopes were entertained; but they were not to be 
realized. Radama gave himself up to dissipation; and after a 
reign of little more than a year, his mind became unsettled, 
and finally he was strangled by a party of desperadoes. 

His widow, Rascherina, succeeded him, and reigned for five 
years. Under her rule, there was complete religious liberty: 
and at the request of the queen of England, she agreed that 
there should be no more persecution of the Christians. 

This queen was succeeded by her husband's sister, Ranava- 
lona II., the first Christian ruler of Madagascar. Under her 
rule, idolatry has fallen into a state of general decay. It is 
worthy of mention that four memorial churches have been 
erected upon spots consecrated by the death of the martyrs, 
one upon that very cliff which has already been mentioned, 
and one on the place where the first Christian martyr was put 
to death. 

But great as the progress has been — and we leave the story 
unfinished, having nothing more than the barest outlines — the 
island is not yet wholly Christian. Far from it. The great 
majority of the inhabitants are still heathens — ignorant and 
superstitious as that word implies. The reformation has 
chiefly been confined to the middle division of the island ; and 
it is from thence, that portion which has churches and schools 
and printing-presses and teachers, that evangelists are con- 
stantly being sent out for the conversion of these people. 
One of the memorial churches sent out twenty missionaries in 
one year; another sent out eleven; and so the good w^ork 
goes on. 

Brief and bare is the story as told above ; if you would read 
more, the volumes of Mears, of Ellis, of Mullens, of Mrs. 
Parker, tell the tale more at length. It is the martyr church 
of our own century ; and here have been repeated the cruel- 
ties of the early Roman emperors and the constancy of the 
early Christians. 

Most of the American missions are on the west coast of 
Africa. The first established Avas that of the American Bap- 



CHEISTIAN^ MISSIONS IN AFRICA. 299 

tist Missionary Union, in Liberia, in 1821. After eleven years, 
this was followed by the establishment of another station in 
the same locality by the American Presbyterian Board of Mis- 
sions. The same year (1832) the Methodist Episcopal Mis- 
sionary Society sent a missionary to Liberia, Tvho died shortly 
after reaching that country. The good work was carried on, 
however, and others followed him to the dangerous charge, 
but without suffering the same fatal results from the climate. 
The work is now carried on chiefly by native workers, who are 
less liable to the dreaded African Fever than strangers ; and 
the work is under the charge of a colored bishop (Taylor). 

The "American Board" of Missions began its African work 
in 1834 at Cape Palmas; and two years afterward, the Protest- 
ant Episcopal Church of the United States established a sta- 
tion at the same point. This church sent out three mission- 
aries, who worked faithfully among the dense population of 
the surrounding country. Not a little of their success was 
due, speaking from a purely secular point of view, to the fact 
that one of these missionaries was a physician, and was en- 
abled to win the confidence of the natives by attending to their 
physical ills. Native helpers have been trained, schools have 
been established and a newspaper is published in the interests 
of the mission. 

In 1842 the American Missionary Association established a 
station in the Sherbro country, where the usual difficulties in 
regard to climate were encountered and finally overcome. 

In 1848, the Baptist Missionary Society extended its labors 
to West Africa, and stations were established in the island of 
Fernando Po and also on the. banks of the Cameroons, in the 
Bight of Benin. In 1858, the Baptist missionaries were ex- 
pelled from Fernando Po by the Spanish government, when 
Spain took possession of the island on the termination of its 
agreement with England. The work on the mainland went on 
and took deep root, the unrestricted religious liberty allowed 
by the native chiefs being a great aid to its success. A year 
after Stanley descended the Congo, this same society estab- 
lished a mission in that country. 

But the Baptists are not the only denomination to establish 
missions in this vast territory. The basin of the Congo com- 
prises an area of nine hundred thousand square miles, filled 
with a large population. To give one missionary to each hund- 
red square of this tract would require the services of nine 
thousand workers. Nothing daunted by the immensity of the 
task, two agencies have set to work to effect what good can be 



300 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IX AFRICA. 

done by the means within their reach. One of these is un- 
denominational, and the other is Baptist; called respectively 
the Livingstone Inland Congo Mission, and the Arthington 
Mission of the Baptist Church. These have established them- 
selves at Leopoldville, one to the right and one to the left of 
the station. It has been a well-contested race to the great goal ; 
the Baptists were the first to win the race to Stanley Pool; Dr. 
Sims, of the Livingstone Inland Congo Mission, was the first 
to navigate any portion of the waters of the Upper Congo. 
The Baptists were the first to occupy a station above Stanley 
Pool; but soon after, the Livingstone Mission had arranged 
for a station even at the equator. The Baptists w^ere the first 
to launch a steamer; but the Livingstone Mission were engag- 
ed in building their steamer at Leopoldville at the time that 
the other was launched. It has been a singular religious duel 
between two missions of the Protestant Church ; both mis- 
sion chiefs alternately 'have gained the advance post, and have 
exhibited remarkable aptit ude for their work. Of course, both 
have experienced dark days, and have been sorely afflicted ; 
but each month the horizon has been clearing, and the pros- 
pect is infinitely brighter before them to-day than they could 
have anticipated when the difficulties of the work first became 
known by experience. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



LiriJ^GSTOJfE THE MISSIOJVAET, 

(LIVINGSTONE'S own account of his early life is so 
'^ f [ graphic, and yet so modest, that we reproduce it for our 
readers : 

" xlt the age of ten I was put into the [cotton] factory 
as a 'piecer,' to aid by my earnings in lessening her [his 
mother's] anxiety. With a part of my first week's w^ages I 
purchased Ruddiman's 'Eudiments of Latin,' and pursued the 
study of that language for many years afterward, with un- 
abated ardor, at an evening school, which met between the 
hours of eight and ten. The dictionary part of my labors w^as 
followed up till twelve o'clock, or later, if my mother did not 
interfere by jumping up and snatching the books out of my 
hands. I had to be back in the factory by six in the morn- 
ing, and continue my work, with intervals for breakfast and 
dinner, till eight o'clock at night. I read in this way many of 
the classical authors, and knew^ Virgil and Horace better at 
sixteen than I do now. * * * * In reading, everj^thing 
that I could la}^ my hands on was devoured except novels. 
Scientific works and books of travel were my delight. 

"Great pains had been taken by my parents to instil the 
doctrines of Christianity into my mind ; * * * but it was 
only about this time that I really began to feel the necessity 
and value of a personal application of the provisions of that 
Atonement to my own case. * * * * In the glow of love 
w^hich Christianity inspires, I soon resolved to devote my life 
to the alleviation of human misery. Turning this idea over in 
my mind, I felt that to be a pioneer of Christianity in China 
might lead to the material benefit of some portions of that im- 
mense empire ; and therefore set myself to obtain a medical 
education, in order to be qualified for that enterprise. * * 
* * My reading while at work was carried on bv placing the 

301 




6jD^!U>t.A> dU^V'-'U^^yJiy^tit 



LIVINGSTONE THE MISSIONARY. 303 

book on a portion of the spinning-jenny, so that I could catch 
sentence after sentence as I passed at my work. I thus kept 
up a pretty constant study undisturbed by the roar of the ma- 
chinery. To this part of my education I owe my present 
power of completely abstracting the mind from surrounding 
noises, so as to read and write with perfect comfort amid the 
play of children or near the dancing and songs of savages. 
The toil of cotton-spinning, to which I was promoted in my 
nineteenth year, was excessively severe on a slim, loose-jointed 
lad, but it was well paid for; and it enabled me to support 
myself while attending medical and Greek classes in Glasgow 
in winter, as also the divinity lectures of Dr. Wardlaw, by work- 
ing with my hands in summer. I never received a farthing of 
aid from any one, and should have accomplished my project of 
going to China as a medical missionary, in the course of time, 
by my own efforts, had not some friends advised my joining 
the London Missionary Society on account of its perfectly un- 
sectarian character. It ' sends neither Episcopacy, nor Pres- 
byterianism, nor Independency, but the Gospel of Christ to 
the heathen.' This exactly agreed with my ideas of what a 
missionary society ought to do ; but it w^as not Avithout a pang 
that I offered myself, for it was not quite agreeable to one 
who was accustomed to vrork his own way to become in a 
measure dependent upon others; and I would not have been 
much put about had my offer been rejected." 

But the offer was not rejected; and the self -helpful student 
was finally, by the aid of the Missionary Society, admitted as a 
Licentiate of Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons. China was 
then closed to the outside world; but the young missionary 
hoped to gain access to the empire as a ph3'sician. The opium 
war, however, was then raging; and the Society deemed it 
inexpedient for him to go. There was no immediate prospect 
of a peace with China, and, on the other hand, Moffat's work 
in South Africa was beginning to have some effect upon Eng- 
lish interest in that part of the world. Livingstone's original 
intention was thus changed; and in place of becoming a mis- 
sionary to China, he went to that -continent with which his 
name must ever be indissolubly associated in the minds of all 
who read about missions or explorations. 

After a somewhat more extended course of theological train- 
ing in England, he set sail for the Cape, where he arrived af- 
ter a voyage of three months. From this point he embarked 
for Algoa Bay; and thence proceeded overland to Kuruman, 
the farthest inland station of the Society. From this point, 



304 LIVINGSTONE THE MISSIONARY. 

his instructions bade him turn to the north. Waiting only to 
recruit the oxen, he proceeded from this point to the Bakwain 
country, and found Sechele, with his tribe, located as Shoku- 
ane. The visit was a short one; and after resting three 
months at Kuruman, the missionary decided that he could 
only do his work well if he spoke the language of the people. 
Accordingly, for six months he shut himself off from all inter- 
course with Europeans, and studied the Bakwain language. 
He now began at Lepolole, a point some fifteen miles south of 
Shokuane, to make preparations for gardening, by arranging 
for irrigation. Having dug his canals, he occupied his time 
in excursions to the surrounding country, a great part of his 
journeys being performed on foot, because his oxen were sick. 
Some of the natives, who did not know how conversant he 
was with their language, remarked: 

'*He is not strong; he is quite slim, and only appears stout 
because puts he himself into those bags (trousers) ; he will soon 
knock up." 

This aroused his spirit of opposition; he was determined 
that he would not knock up ; and he kept them at the top of 
. their speed for days together, until he heard them express a 
little higher opinion of his physical powers. 

He selected the valley of Mabotsa as the site of a missionary 
station, and removed thither in 1843; he had arrived at the 
Cape in 1840. He found the Bakatla of this village much an- 
noyed by the lions, which would even attack the herds in 
broad day. Here occurred one of his most famous adven- 
tures. 

" The people believed that they were bewitched — 'given,' 
as they said ' into the power of the lions by a neighboring 
tribe.' They went once to attack the animals, but being 
rather a cowardly people compared to Bechuanas in general 
on such occasions, they returned without killing any. 

"It is well known that if one of a troop of lions is killed, 
the others take the hint and leave that part of the country. 
So, the next time the herds were attacked, I went with the 
people, in order to encourage them to rid themselves of this 
annoyance by destroying one of the marauders. We found the 
lions on a small hill about a quarter of a mile in length, and 
covered with trees. A circle of men was formed round it, and 
they gradually closed up, ascending pretty near to each other. 
Being down below on the plain with a native school-master, 
named Mebalwe, a most excellent man, I saw one of the lions 
sitting on a piece of rock within the now closed circle of men. 



LIVINGSTONE THE MISSIONARY. 305 

Mebalwe fired at him before I could, and the ball struck the 
rock on which the animal was sitting. He bit at the spot 
struck, as a dog does at a stick or stone thrown at him ; then 
leaping away, broke through the circle and escaped unhurt. 
The men were afraid to attack him, perhaps on account of 
their belief in witchcraft. When the circle was re-formed, we 
saw two other lions in it ; but w^e were afraid to fire lest we 
should strike the men, and they allowed these beasts to break 
through also. If the Bakatla had acted according to the cus- 
tom of the country, they would have speared the lions in the 
attempt to get out. Seeing we could not get them to kill one 
of the lions, we bent our footsteps toward the village; in go- 
ing round the end of the hill, however, I saw one of the beasts 
sitting on a piece of rock as before, but this time he had a lit- 
tle bush in front. Being about thirty yards off, I took a good 
aim at his body through the bush, and fired both barrels into 
it. The men then called out: 'He is shot! He is shot!' 
Others cried: ' He has been shot by another man, too; let us 
go to him!' I did not see any one else shoot at him, but I 
saw the lion's tail erected in anger behind the bush, and turn- 
ing to the people, said: * Stop a little, till I load again." 
When in the act of ramming down the bullets, I heard a shout. 
Starting and looking half round, I saw the lion just in the act 
of springing upon me. I was upon a little height; he caught 
my shoulder as he sprang, and we both came to the ground be- 
low together. Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me 
as a terrier dog does a rat. The shock produced a stupor simi- 
lar to that which seems to be felt by the mouse after the first 
shake of the cat. « It caused a sort of dreaminess, in which 
there was no sense of pain nor feeling of terror, though quite 
conscious of all that was happening. It was like what patients 
partially under the influence of chloroform describe, who see all 
the operation, but feel not the knife. This singular condition 
was not the result of any mental process. The shake annihi- 
lated fear, and allowed no sense of horror in looking round at 
the beast. This peculiar state is probably produced in all 
animals killed by the carnivora; and if so, is a merciful pro- 
vision by our benevolent Creator for lessening the pain of 
death. Turning round to relieve myself of his weight, as he had 
one paw on the back of my head, I saw his eyes directed to 
Mebalwe, who was trying to shoot him at a distance of ten or 
fifteen yards. His gun, a flint one, missed fire in both barrels; 
the lion immediately left me, and attacking Mebalwe, bit his 
thigh. Another man, whose life I had saved before, after he 



LIVINGSTONE THE MISSIONARY. 307 

had been tossed by a buffalo, attempted to spear the lion while 
he was biting Mebalwe. He left Mebalwe and caught this man 
by the shoulder, but at that moment the bullets that he had 
received took effect, and he fell down dead. The whole was 
the work of a few moments, and must have been the parox- 
ysms of his dying rage. * * * Besides crunching the bone 
into splinters, he left eleven teeth wounds in the upper part of 
my arm." 

Livingstone had attached himself to that division of the 
Bechuanas which is known as the Bakwains. The chief of 
this tribe was named Sechele; and from the very first, he 
manifested an interest in Christianity. The missionary was a 
great favorite with him ; and he never lost an opportunity of 
pressing him to read the Bible to him. 

Seeing Livingstone's anxiety to convert the people, he once 
said to him : 

" Do you imagine that these people will ever believe by your 
merely talking to them? I can make them do nothing except 
by thrashing them; and if you like, I will call my head men, 
and with our litupa (whips of rhinoceros hide) we will soon 
make them all believe together." 

It is needless to say that this offer of help in evangelizing 
the Bakwains was declined. Sechele continued to listen to the 
missionary's teaching, and for the space of two years and a 
half endeavored, by other means than whips of rhinoceros 
hide, to impress his people with a belief in it. He himself still 
clung to his many wives ; because they were the daughters of 
sub-chiefs who had helped him against domestic enemies, and 
if he sent them back, he would appear ungrateful to those who 
had done so much for him in his adversity. 

Finally, however, he made up his mind to this ; and sent 
each one back to her j)arents, with such presents as were suit- 
able for the occasion. Then he and his children were baptized, 
great numbers coming to see the ceremony. 

But the example of the chief was not followed by many of 
his tribe. The country had, ever since Livingstone's arrival 
there, suffered from terrible droughts, which made it near- 
ly impossible to obtain food by any means but hunting; and 
the people believed this to be the result of his coming among 
them. Under such circumstances, it is small wonder that the 
ignorant Bakwains refused to listen to him. 

In consequence of the drought, the tribe removed to a point 
on the Kolobeng, the missionary accompanying them. Here 
Livingstone persuaded the chief to have a canal for irrigating 
20 



LIVINGSTONE THE MISSIONAKY. 309 

his garden dug; the experiment succeeding admirably durmg 
the first year; but failed with the drought in the second and 
third. Sechele himself was a noted rain-doctor, but forbore 
to use his supposed powers after his conversion; although he 
had firmly believed in them himself, and assured the mission- 
ary that this was the hardest part of the old belief to give up. 
But his people protested loudly against this refusal to exercise 
his powers; and considered Livingstone responsible. 

Under these circumstances, it was necessary for the w^omen 
of the tribe to sell their ornaments in order to purchase grain 
of more fortunate tribes. The children scoured the country 
for roots and bulbs; while the men hunted industriously. A 
favorite method of securing a large quantity of game was by 
means of the trap called the hopo. This consisted of two very 
high hedges in the form of the letter V, thick near the angle; 
but instead of an angle, there is a lane about fifty yards long, 
formed by the continuation of these hedges. At the end of 
this lane is a pit, six or eight feet deep, and about twelve or 
fifteen feet square. Trunks of trees are laid across the margin 
of the pit, and carefully decked with short green rushes. The 
hedges are about a mile long, and the opening is equally wide. 
The men of the tribe, making a circuit throughout" the sur- 
rounding country, and gradually closing up, are almost sure to 
drive a large quantity of game into the hopo ; and pursuing the 
animals with shouts to the narrow lane mentioned, men secre- 
ted there throw their javelins into the affrighted herds, which 
rush into the pit concealed by the rushes. The men wild with ex- 
citement, spear the animals that are on the surface of the mass ; 
while those beneath are crushed by the weight of their fellow- 
victims. The Bakwains often kill between sixty and seventy 
head of large game at one of these traps at a time ; and rich 
and poor partake alike of the flesh. 

Here at Kolobeng, Livingstone built a house for himself, 
the third that he had erected. A native smith had taught him 
how to weld iron; he had received many valuable hints in 
building from his father-in-law, Mr. Moffat, as well as in car- 
pentering and gardening; and he w^as becoming handy at al- 
most any trade, as well as doctoring and preaching. He says 
that at this time, he and his wife came "nearly up to w^hat 
may be considered indispensable in the accomplishments of a 
missionary family in Central Africa, namely, the husband to 
be jack-of-all-trades without doors, and the wife maid-of-all- 
work within." He further says : 

"You want bricks to build a house, and must forthwith pro- 



LrVINGSTONE THE MISSlONAtir. 311 

ceed to the field, cut down a tree, and saw it into the planks 
to make the brick-moulds ; the materials for doors and windows, 
too, are standing in the forest; and if you want to be respect- 
ed by the natives, a house of decent dimensions, costing an 
immense amount of manual labor, must be built. The people 
cannot assist you much ; for though most w^illing to labor for 
wages, the Bakwains have a curious inability to make or put 
things square ; like all Bechuanas, their dwellings are made 
round. In the case of three large houses, erected by myself 
at different times, every brick and stick had to be put square 
by my own right hand." 

Livingstone also assisted the natives to build a square house 
for their chief, and a building for a school. But he could not 
succeed in convincing them that he was in no way responsible 
for the drought. Another source of trouble was the behavior 
of the Boers. These were not the farming class, but rather fu- 
gitives from justice, English deserters, andevery variety of bad 
characters, who had attacked the surrounding tribes, and made 
slaves of as many as they could capture. These persons did 
not hesitate to misrepresent Livingstone to the Bakwains as a 
spy of their enemies ; and might have done him great harm if 
Sechele's" faith in him had been less persistent. 

With the troubles between Sechele and these Boers we have 
here nothing to do ; it is our place rather, to follow Living- 
stone as he journeys from Kolobeng farther into the interior. 
In the effort to benefit the native tribes, he twice made a jour- 
ney of about three hundred miles to the eastward of Kolobeng ; 
Sechele lamenting that he could not accompany him, since the 
Boers were such bitter enemies. His independence and love 
of the English had excited their hatred against him. He gave 
Livingstone two servants, however, to accompany him and be 
his (Sechele's) arms to serve him. 

"Suppose we went north," suggested the missionary; 
" would you come then?" 

It was the first conception of the journey which resulted in 
the discovery of Lake Ngami. But even northward Sechele 
could not go; for he feared to leave his tribe without a chief 
in case it should be attacked by the Boers. Learning of Liv- 
ingstone's intentions, tAvo English travelers, Messrs. Oswell 
and Murray, asked to accompany him ; and June 1, 1849, the 
party set out on the journey along the outskirts of the great 
Kalahari Desert. They had gone but a few days' journey, 
when they found that there was but little water for their 
horses and oxen. A few hollows like those made by buffaloes 



LIVI^^GSTO^E THE MISSIONARY. 3l3 

and rhinoceros when they roll themselves in the sand appear- 
ed, and in the corner of one of these was a little water, which 
the dogs would have quickly drank up if they had not been held 
back. Nothing daunted by the prospect, their guides bade 
them have patience; and rapidly scooped out holes in the 
sand, so as to form pits six feet deep and as many broad. Into 
these the water flowed slowly at first, but more rapidly toward 
morning; and they had sufficient for their needs. 

This method of obtaining water answered only in certain 
localities; and Livingstone supposes, from the indications of 
the surrounding country, that these places were the beds of what 
had once been rivers ; and that the water thus procured would 
have otherwise been conducted by underground filtration to a 
lower level. They were soon beyond these easily dug wells, 
and suffered much for the lack of water. On one occasion, 
however, they captured a Bushwoman, and bribed her to con- 
duct them to a spring. She accepted their gift, and walked 
before the wagon no less than eight miles before reaching the 
water. 

On the fourth of July, the travelers reached the Zouga. 
The natives confirmed what they had already heard, that by 
following this stream they would reach Ngami ; and added that 
perhaps they would be a moon on the way. They ascended 
the river for about ninety-six miles, traveling along the banks 
in the wagons w^hich they had crossed the desert in ; and at 
that point, Ngabisane, left all the wagons except the smallest, 
and continued the ascent in the canoes of the natives. 

The people in whose territory they now were possess one 
peculiarity — they never fight. Livingstone calls them the 
"Quakers of the body politic of Africa;" the Bechuanas call 
them Bakoba, a name which retains something the meaning of 
slaves. They regard their canoes, hollowed out of the trunk 
of a tree, as the Arab does the camel; and prefer sleeping in 
them to spending the night on land. 

While ascending the beautifully wooded river, they came to 
a mouth of a considerable tributary ; and the missionary in- 
quired concerning its source. 

- "It comes from a country full of rivers — so many no one 
can tell their numbers," was the reply; "and full of large 
trees." 

This effectually disproved, to his mind, the theory that had 
been entertained, that the country beyond was not a "large 
sandy plateau." 

Twelve days after their departure fromNgabisane, they came 



LlVIi^^GSTONE THE MISSIO^AHf. B15 

to the northeast end of Lake Ngami. The first sight was a 
disappointment, for he had dreamed of a great highway for 
commerce in the heart of this untraveled countr}- ; he found a 
body of water, which, according to the natives ' account of it, 
could not be more than seventy-five miles in circumference, 
and so shallow that he saw a native punting his canoe over 
seven or eight miles of the northeast end. 

Livingstone's chief object, however, was not to see Lake 
Ngami, but to see Sebituane, the chief of the Makololo. In 
order to do this, he must procure guides and permission from 
Lecholetebe, Chief of the Batanana, a half -tribe of the Bam- 
angwato. But Lecholetebe was not willing to grant these 
favors; if the white men reached the country of Sebituane, 
that chief would be able to procure muskets, and his own 
supremacy would therefore be endangered. It was in vain 
that Livingstone represented himself as an agent of peace; 
the savage could not understand anything of the kind; and 
the travelers were obliged to return to the south again. 

They witnessed many sights peculiar to this part of the world. 
One occurrence that particularly excited their curiosity was 
the behavior of a herd of elephants when drinking at the 
river. These huge animals would play like so many children- 
in the water, throwing great quantities of it over each other, 
and screaming with delight at the fun. On finishing their sport 
and endeavoring to leave the water at a point where the bank 
was quite steep, a comical sight ensued of their desperate 
struggles to get out. The elephants about Ngami, they ob- 
served, were much smaller than farther south, the variation in 
height being as much as three feet. 

Several new kinds of animals were observed; and many 
different species of fish. The natives living along the Zouga 
are determined fishermen, for much of their food is drawn 
from the water. They use nets knotted like those of other 
countries; and also spear the fish with javelins having a handle 
so light that it readily floats on the surface. They show great 
dexterity in harpooning the hippopotamus; and the barbed 
blade of the spear being attached to a rope made of the young 
leaves of the palmyra, the animal cannot rid himself of the 
canoe, attached to him in whale fashion, except by smashing 
it, which he frequently does with his teeth or by a stroke of 
his hind foot. 

Returning to Kolobeng, Dr. Livingstone started upon a sec- 
ond trip to Ngami in April, 1850, accompanied by his wife, 
three children, and the chief Sechele. The Zouga was ascend- 



316 LIVlNGStOKE THE MlSSIOKAItY. 

ed by means of wagons this time, although with immense 
labor, since the trees along the route had often to be cut down 
to make the road passable for the wagon. On approaching the 
confluence of the Tamunakle, another diflSculty beset them; 
they were informed that the fly called tsetse abounded on its 
banks. This insect is not much larger than the common 
house-fly, and is of nearly the same color as the ordinary 
honey-bee ; the after part of the body has three or four yellow 
bars across it. It is remarkably alert* at the ordinary tempera- 
tures; but during the cool of the morning and evening is less 
agile. Its peculiarity is, that its bite is fatal to horses, oxen, 
and dogs, but not to man and wild animals; even calves, as 
long as they continue to suck the cow, are safe from its bite. 
Although the travelers were not aware of any great number 
having at any one time lighted upon their cattle, they lost no 
less than forty-three fine oxen by the bite of this deadly insect. 
It is remarkable that its bite does not produce instant death, 
but acts as a slow poison, sometimes requiring months for its 
development. In some cases^ the animal's brain seemed to 
be acted upon by the virus, and it was affected with staggering 
and blindness. 

The districts where the tsetse is found are defined by sharp- 
ly drawn boundaries; and in this case, the travelers were able 
to escape its ravages simply by crossing the Zouga. But al- 
though Lecholetebe yielded to Sechele's persuasions, and agreed 
to furnish the missionary with guides to Sebituane's domin- 
ions, the traveler was again foiled. Two of his children were 
taken sick with fever ; on the next day, all their servants were 
down; there was but one sure cure — change of air; and he 
was obliged to return with his embryo hospital to the purer air 
of the desert. 

On their return, they met Mr. Oswell on the banks of the 
Zouga. He had been elephant hunting, and had greatly dis- 
tinguished himself in the eyes of the natives, because his great 
success was achieved without the aid of dogs. He was known 
to have killed four large male elephants in one day, the value 
of whose tusks would be fairly estimated, at that time, at 
about five hundred dollars of our money. Two years later, 
when the Livingstone family visited the Cape, the missionary 
wearing a coat Avhich had been in his outfit in 1840, and his 
wife and children clad in such costumes as her ingenuity could 
devise out of next to nothing, they found that Mr. OsweM had 
ordered an outfit for them costing about a thousand dollars. 
When remonstrated with, he replied that Mrs. Livingstone 



LIVINGSTONE THE MISSIONARY. 



3.17 



had a right to the proceeds of the game of her own preserves. 
They returned once more to Kolobeng, whither they were 
.soon followed by messengers from Sebituane himself, with a 
gift of thirteen cows to Sechele, and a request that that chief 
would assist the missionary in his efforts to reach Sebituane's 
country. A similar present and request had been sent to Lecho- 
letebe and another chief, Sekomi ; but it was the policy of all, 
in accordance with that law of African commerce which has 
already been stated, to prevent the w^hite men from reaching 
Sebituane's country. 




1. The Tsetse Fly. 2. The Same Magnified. 3. The Proboscis. 

A. third effort to reach his territories proved more success- 
ful; the chief himself coming a hundred miles to meet them. 

But the chief did not live long to befriend them. He w^as 
taken down, shortly after their arrival, with inflammation of 
the lungs; he had had previous attacks, it seemed, and now 
trusted to the same "doctors." Livingstone decided that it 
was best not to interfere, so long as he was not requested to 
do so; since if the chief died (and he was a doomed man from 
the first) the consequences would be great danger to the mis- 
sionary and his family. The chieftainship devolved upon a 
daughter of Sebituane's, named Ma-mochisane, who was 
twelve miles away when her father's death occurred. She sent 
word that the white travelers w^ere free to visit any part of her 
dominions. In accordance with this permission, Livingstone 



^18 LIVIJ^'GSTONE THE MISSION Altr. 

and Oswell, having previously arranged to leave Mrs. Living- 
stone and the children in the care of their new friends, pro- 
ceeded one hundred and thirty miles to the northeast, to She- 
sheke; in the end of June, 1851, they were rewarded by the 
discovery of the Zambesi. 

This was indeed a discovery : for it was not known that this 
great river proceeded from a point so far inland; indeed, the 
direction of its source from its mouth w^as uncertain. On the 
Portuguese maps, which were then the best authority for this 
portion of Africa, conjecture had placed it far to the east of 
this point. 

They saw the river at the end of the dry season, w^henitwas 
at its lowest stage; yet Oswell, whose Indian experience made 
his opinion worth having, declared that even in the far East 
he had never seen a stream equal to this, w^ith its breadth of 
from three to six hundred j^ards of deep, flowing water. Had 
they seen it during the highest floods, when the depth of 
the water is twenty feet greater than at this season, and it 
covers the country fifteen or twenty miles on each side of its 
banks, what would have been their judgment concerning it? 

It had been the intention of Livingstone to establish a mis- 
sionary station betAveen the Chobe and the Zambesi, but the 
country over which they traveled was obviously so unhealthf ul 
that the project w^as abandoned. Even the natives had been 
cut off by fever. 

These being the first w^hite men that the tribes living around 
the Upper Zambesi had seen, they were visited by great num- 
bers. Some of the men who came were clad in garments of 
gaudy cotton, w^hich the explorers saw at once must have come 
from Europe. In answer to inquiries, the w^earers said that 
these vestments were received in exchange from the Mambari, 
a tribe living near Bihe, who acted as middlemen between the 
Portuguese and the interior races. The price of each gown 
had been a boy about fourteen years old, who had been bought 
from the Makololo or the Barutse. The natives explained 
that this traflfic was a vei-y recent thing; and comparing their 
statements with his own movements, Livingstone found that 
Sebituane and his people had only begun to trade in slaves 
after the time of the missionary's first attempt to reach his 
country; had that been successful, the good man reflected with 
much regret, this traflic might never have been begun. 

Livingstone now returned to Kolobeng; but as the Boers 
would not permit the peaceable instruction of the natives there, 
and it was next to impossible for a European to live in the 



LIVINGSTONE THE MISSIONARY. 319 

protected portion of Sebituane's country on account of the 
prevalent fever, he resolved to send his family to England, 
and to return and explore the country alone, in search of a 
healthy region where a missionary station could be established. 
The directors of the London Missionary Society cordially ap- 
proved of this plan, and left the details to be arranged by him. 
Accordingly, he took his wife and children to the Cape, placed 
them on a homeward-bound vessel, and early in June, 1852, 
turned his steps once more to the interior. 

His journey northward was a slow one, delayed as he was by 
an accident to his wagon and by the ravages of tsetse upon his 
oxen. It was the last day of the year when he arrived at Kolo- 
beng. He found that Sechele and his tribe had been attacked 
by the Boers of the mountain, and had suffered considerable 
loss. The news of this attack had reached him Avhile he was 
on the way; indeed, it was in consequence of the resolute de- 
fense of the Bakwains that he was unable to get servants at 
Kuruman. Forty miles north of this place, he met Sechele, 
who told him that he was on his way to the queen of England. 
A former wife and two of her children had been captured by 
the Boers; and Sechele, who had imbibed a very high opinion 
of the justice and generosity of England, wished to lay this 
case before the queen, that the Boers might be compelled to 
restore the captives. It was in vain that the missionary and 
others attempted to teach him what difficulties beset the jour- 
ney; he had no conception of the distance, and resolutely 
pressed on. Poor fellow! He found his resources exhausted 
when he got to the Cape; there was none to help him, for the 
governor had his own theory about dealing with the Boers and 
the native tribes ; and the chief sadly turned away from the 
sea^ to begin his weary return journey of a thousand miles to 
his own country. 

Sechele had left orders that his people Avere not to under- 
take any act of revenge during his absence ; but some of his 
young men had disobeyed this, and attacked the Boers. The 
latter became alarmed, and thinking that the Bakwains meant 
to begin a guerrilla war, sent four embassadors to ask for 
peace. One condition was made: That Sechele's children 
should be returned to him; this was .eagerly acceded to, and 
when the chief arrived, he found that his appeal would have 
been needless. 

Leaving Kolobeng on the fifteenth of January, they skirted 
the edge of the Kalahari Desert again; but the preceding 
rainy season an unusual quantity of rain had fallen, and con- 



LIVINGSTONE THE MISSIONARY. 321 

sequently they did not suffer for water as before. This was 
a country much frequented by lions, and Mr. Oswell, who 
again accompanied the missionary, found much sport in hunt- 
ing them. Upon one occasion, his spoi-t came near ending 
more fatally for himself than for the lion. He had exhausted 
the loads in his gun without any effect except to wound the 
lion, which, enraged by the pain, sprang upon the hind-quar- 
ters of his horse as he turned to fly over the plain. The rider 
was dragged from his saddle by the thorns of an overhanging 
tree, and the fall rendered him insensible. The hunter's dogs 
attacked the lion, which soon fell dead from the effects of the 
previous wound. 

A little farther on, they came across many indications of 
the presence of ostriches. Livingstone says of this bird: 

** The ostrich is generally seen quietly feeding on some spot 
where no one can approach him without being detected by his 
wary eye. As the wagon moves far along to the windward lie 
thinks it is intending to circumvent him, so he rushes up a 
mile or so from the leeward, and so near to the front oxen 
that one sometimes gets a shot at the silly bird. When he be- 
gins to run, all the game in sight follows his example. I have 
seen this folly taken advantage of when he was feeding quietly 
in a valley open at both ends. A number of men would com- 
mence running, as if to cut off his retreat from the end 
through which the wind came; and although he had the 
whole country hundreds of miles before him by going to the 
other end, on he madly rushed to get past the men, and so 
was spearexl. He never swerves from the course he once 
adopts, but only increases his speed. 

*' When the ostrich feeds, his pace is from twenty to twenty- 
two inches ; when walking, but not feeding, it is twenty-six 
inches; and when terrified, as in the case noticed, it is from 
eleven and a half to thirteen and even fourteen feet in 
length. Only in one case was I at all satisfied of being able to 
count the rate of speed by a stop-watch, and if I am not mis- 
taken, there were thirty in ten seconds; generally one's eye 
can no more follow the legs than it can the spokes of a car- 
riage-wheel in rapid motion. If we take the above number, 
and twelve feet stride as the average pace, we have a speed of 
twenty-six miles an hour. It cannot be very much above 
that, and is therefore slower than a railway locomotive. They 
are sometimes shot by a horseman making a cross cut to their 
undeviating course, but few Englishmen ever succeed in kill- 
ing them.'* 



LIVINGSTONE THE MISSIONARY. 323 

If was May before they arrived at the banks of the Chobe, 
at a point some thirty miles below Linyanti, the capital of the 
Makololo. Here they turned to the north, and on the twenty- 
third of that month reached Linyanti, where Sekeletu, the son 
of Sebituane, was now chief. On his previous journey, Living- 
stone had seen Ma-mochisane, the daughter of Sebituane, re- 
cognized as that chief's successor; but she had found that the 
chieftainship was not what she had anticipated ; and volun- 
tarily resigned that bad eminence to her eighteen-year-old 
brother, saying that she would rather be like other women, 
married and have a family. 

While at Linyanti, Livingstone was taken with the fever. 
Anxious to ascertain if the natives had any cure for this dis- 
ease with which he was not acquainted, he gave himself up to 
the treatment of one of the Makololo doctors. The result was 
not encouraging. "After being stewed in their vapor-baths, 
smoked like a red herring over green twigs, and charmed 
secundum artem, I concluded that I could cure the fever more 
quickly than they." 

Livingstone proposed to teach the Makololos to read, but 
they declined the offer at first; the chief alleging, as a reason, 
that to learn to read might make him content with one wife, 
like Sechele. Finally, however, this objection was overcome; 
some of the under chiefs put themselves under instruction, 
and when Sekeletu saw that it did them no particular harm, 
he began to study. 

After remaining at Linyanti for about a month, Livingstone 
set out to ascend the river, Sekeletu, who had volunteered to 
accompany him, being his companion, together with about 
one hundred and sixty of his tribe. They traveled on land 
for some distance, but finally took to the canoes, of which 
thirty-three were required for the transportation of their 
party. 

The river was one which had never been explored by a 
white man thus far from the coast ; and Livingstone could not 
sufiiciently admire its grandeur. Along the banks were vil- 
lages and fields which gave evidence of an industrious and 
prosperous people. They met with no particular difiiculties in 
the ascent except at the cataract of Gouye, where the canoes 
had to be carried overland for more than a mile. The river 
was sufficiently high to make it possible to pass the rapids 
without portage. 

But his investigations regarding the nature of the country 

did not lead to anything satisfactory; he found no place at 
21 



LIVIXGSTOXE THE MISSIONARY. 325 

which it would be wise to establish a missionary station; and 
therefore returned to Linyanti, having ascended the Zambesi 
to its confluence with the Leeba. He determined to cross the con- 
tinent to Loanda, and resisted all attempts of the " doctors" . 
to persuade him that such a course would be fatal. He left 
Sekeletu's town November 11th, and reached Shesheke on 
the 17th. Forty days later, they arrived at the confluence of 
the Leeba and the Leeambye, traveling mainly overland. They 
found the Makololo extremely friendly wherever they went, 
the missionary and his attendants being the messengers of 
peace in their estimation. It is remarkable that this warlike 
tribe values peace so highly; probably, like many a great sold- 
ier, they had seen enough of war to make them desire peace. 

As he went on, he found that many of the chiefs were wo- 
men. One of these, Manenko, received him with special hon- 
ors, and insisted that he should visit her brother, Shinte or 
Kabampo, the greatest Balonda chief in this part of the coun- 
try. Livingstone was not very willing to do this, as it took 
him out of the more direct route ; but his followers were not 
disposed to encounter the hostile tribes that lived farther up 
the river, so that he was obliged to yield. Manenko headed the 
numerous party which escorted them to the residence of her 
brother, and decided upon the lucky moment for an entrance 
to his town. 

"We were honored next day with a grand reception by 
Shinte about eleven o'clock. * * * The kotla, or place of 
audience, was about a hundred yards square, and two graceful 
specimens of a species of banyan stood near one end; under 
one of these sat Shinte, on a sort of throne covered with a 
leopard's skin. He had on a checked jacket, and a kilt of scarlet 
H3aize edged with green ; many strings of large beads hung from 
his neck, and his limbs were covered with iron and copper 
armlets and bracelets; on his head he wore a helmet made of 
beads closely woven together, and crowned with a great bunch 
of goose feathers. Close to him sat three lads with large 
sheaves of arrows over their shoulders. 

"When we entered the kotla, the whole of Manenko 's party 
saluted Shinte by clapping their hands, and Sambanza did 
obeisance by rubbing his chest and arms with ashes. * * * 
When all had come and were seated, then began the curious 
capering usually seen in pichos. A man starts up, and imitates 
the most approved attitudes observed in actual fight, as throw- 
ing one javelin, receiving another on the shield, springing to 
one side to observe a third, running backward or forward, 



326 LIVINGSTONE THE MISSIONARY. 

leaping, etc. This over, Sambanza, the spokesman of Nyamo- 
ana, stalked backward and forward in front of Shinte, and gave 
forth, in a loud voice, all that they had been able to learn, 
either from myself or people, of my past history and connec- 
tion with the Makololo ; the return of the captives ; the wish 
to open the country to trade ; the Bible as a word from heav- 
en; the white man's desire for the tribes to live in peace; he 
ought to have taught the Makololo that first, for the Balonda 
never attacked them, yet they assailed the Balonda; perhaps 
he is fibbing, perhaps not ; they rather thought he was ; but 
as the Balonda had good hearts, and Shinte had never done 
harm to any one, he had better receive the white man well, 
and send him on his way. When nine speakers had concluded 
their orations, Shinte stood up, and so did all the people. He 
had maintained true African dignity of manner all the while, 
but my people remarked that he scarcely ever took his eyes off 
me for a moment. About a thousand people were present, ac- 
cording to my calculation, and three hundred soldiers." 

Livingstone remained here ten days, being detained by 
another attack of fever ; when he left, Shinte furnished him 
with eight men to assist in carrying his baggage, but could on- 
ly provide guides for a short distance. After traveling ^ve 
days, they came to a country so full of branches and feeders of 
the Leeba, and so largely under water ; that the traveler could 
only keep his watch dry by carrying it in his arm-pit. 

Their journey, however, was not attended by any special ad- 
venture until they reached Njambi, a village of the Chiboque. 
They arrived here on Saturday, and the missionary expected to 
spend the ensuing Sunday in talking to the people. But his ex- 
pectations were not fulfilled. The chief refused the gift of the 
hump and ribs of an ox which Livingstone had killed, an4 
demanded that the traveler should present him with a man, an 
ox, or a gun. Oxen they had none to spare; of guns they had 
but five; and the missionary had no notion of leaving one of 
his faithful servants in slavery. The young Chiboque bran- 
dished their weapons threateningly, but Livingstone was firm. 
He declared that he and his people would not strike .the first 
blow, but that if attacked they would defend themselves. 

*' It was rather trying for me, because I knew that the Chi- 
boque would aim at the white man first; but I was careful not 
to appear flurried, and, having four barrels ready for instant 
action, looked quietly at the savage scene around. * * * 
The chiefs and counselors, seeing that they were in more dan- 
ger than I, did not choose to follow our decision that they 



LIVmaSTONE THE MISSIONARY. 327 

should begin by striking the first blow, and then see what we 
could do, and were perhaps influenced by seeing the air of 
cool preparation which some of my men displayed, and the 
prospect of a work of blood." 

A compromise was finally effected, and the party passed on. 
But their experience here was only an earnest of what would 
await them in the country to the west. The slave-trade is there 
vigorously prosecuted ; and it was because they were accustom- 
ed to make such demands and see them complied with that the 
Chiboque of Njambi had asked a slave from this explorer. 
Livingstone therefore resolved to alter his course, and take a 
direction north-northeast, in the hope that he might find 
some point tvmxi which the Portuguese settlements might be 
reached without having to face this danger. Crossing several 
tributaries of the Kasai, they found themselves in a country to 
which the traders had more frequently penetrated, and where, 
therefore, a white man w^as less of a curiosit}^ It was less 
difficult, in some respects, to make their way here than it had 
been through the more secluded country. 

Just beyond the Quilo they found a well-beaten path, which 
they were told would lead them to the Portuguese settlement 
of Cassange, the farthest inland station of that nation on the 
western coast of Africa. Following this for some time, they 
at last emerged from the gloomy forest, and beheld a mag- 
nificent prospect which made them feel "as if a weight had 
been lifted off our eyelids." This was the valley of the Quan- 
go, into which they descended. 

Some few difficulties remained to be overcome before they 
actually reached the bank of this river and were ferried across ; 
but once on the other side, they were within Portuguese terri- 
tory, and there remained no further obstacle to their journey. 
On the 31st of May, they entered the city of Loanda; and after 
an incessant tramp of nearly six months, Livingstone found 
himself again enjoying the "luxurious pleasure of a good Eng- 
lish bed" in the house of the only Englishman in the city of 
twelve thousand inhabitants. 

Here he remained for four months ; for not only must he 
make preparations for the return journey, but he was pros- 
trated by several successive attacks of fever. In the mean- 
time his Makololo attendants improved the time by becoming 
acquainted with the wonders of European architecture. They 
had been unable to comprehend how a house could be two 
stories high; since their huts are made by sticking the poles in 
the ground so as to form a cone, and covering that with skins 




,, mr.% 



LIVINGSTONE THE MISSIONARY. 329 

or thatch, they could not understand how the poles for the 
second story were provided with a foundation, or what use the 
second floor would be, with the peak of the lower hut project- 
ing above its floor. One of them, who had seen Livingstone's 
house at Kolobeng, described it as a mountain with several 
caves in it. Now, however, they all understood this much. 
The English vessels in port were another source of wonder; 
and they gravely pronounced these "towns;" designating 
them particularly as "towns that you climb into with a rope." 
The statement that these vessels, with their huge guns, were 
used to put down the slave-trade, afforded the poor creatures 
unalloj'ed gratification. 

The Portuguese merchants resident at Loanda so heartily 
sympathized with Livingstone's aims that they gave him hand- 
some presents for distribution among the peoples of the inte- 
rior ; and the Board of Public Works sent a present to Sekeletu. 
These gifts were accompanied by letters from the bishop and 
the merchants. 

Livingstone left Loanda September 20, 1854; and went by 
sea to the mouth of the Bengo. They did not reach Cassange 
until the middle of January, 1855, having delayed to visit a 
group of curious rocks on the way. Crossing the Quango 
February 28, Livingston^ resolved to leave his old route and 
accompany the Portuguese traders as far as Cabongo, in the 
Londa country. This would lead him much farther eastward 
than the former route, but it would be no longer in the end, 
and he would avoid contact with the hostile Chiboques. Much 
sickness delayed them ; for if one carrier was sick, the others 
could not be induced to share his burden among them. 

This change in route became the means of correcting a mis- 
take into which Livingstone had fallen, in regard to the course 
of the rivers. He says : 

"I became fully persuaded that the Quilo runs into the 
Chikapa. As we now crossed them both considerably farther 
down, and were greatly to the eastward of our former route, 
there can be no doubt that these rivers take the same course 
as the others, into the Kasai, and that I had been led into a 
mistake in saying that any of them flowed to the westward. 
Indeed, it was only at this time that I began to perceive that 
all the western feeders of the Kasai, except the Quango, flow 
first from the western side toward the center of the country, 
then gradually turn, with the Kasai itself, to the north; and 
after the confluence of the Kasai with the Quango, an im- 
mense body of water, collected from all these branches, finds 



330 LIVINGSTONE THE MISSIONARY. 

its way out of the country by means of the Eiver Congo or 
Zaire on the west coast." 

Some of the difficulties of traveling through an African 
forest are succinctly stated in the following lines : 

"We passed on through forests abounding in climbing 
plants, many of which are so extremely tough that a man is re- 
quired to go in front with a hatchet ; and when the burdens of 
the carriers are caught, they are obliged to cut the climbers 
with their teeth, for no amount of tugging will make them 
break. The paths in all these forests are so zigzag that a per- 
son may imagine he has traveled a distance of thirty miles, 
which, when reckoned as the crow flies, may not be fifteen." 
. On the evening of June 2, they reached the village of Ka- 
wawa, a Balonda chief; who at first received them very cor- 
dially. But as they were preparing to leave, he decided that 
they ought to present him with an ox ; and told them that 
they should not leave until they had done so. If they refused 
an ox, they must give a man. 

"Kawawacame in the coolest manner possible to our en- 
campment after sending this message, and told me that he had 
seen all our goods, and must have all he asked, as he had com- 
mand of the Kasai in our front, and would prevent our pass- 
ing it unless we paid this tribute. I replied that the goods 
were my property and not his; that I would never have it 
said that a white man paid tribute to a black, and that I 
should cross the Kasai in spite of him. He ordered his people 
to arm themselves, and when some of my men saw them rush, 
ing for their bows, arrows and spears, they became somewhat 
panic-stricken. I ordered them to move away, and not to fire 
unless Kawawa's men struck the first blow. I took the lead- 
and expected them all to follow, as they usually had done, but 
many of my men remained behind. When I knew of this, I 
jumped off the ox, and made a rush to them with the revolver 
in my hand. Kawawa ran away among his people, and they 
turned their backs too. I shouted to my men to take up their 
luggage and march; some did so with alacrity, feeling that 
they had disobeyed orders by remaining; but one of them re- 
fused, and was preparing to fire at Kawawa, until I gave him 
a punch on the head with the pistol, and made him go too. I 
felt here, as elsewhere, that subordination must be maintained 
at all risks. We all moved into the forest, the people of Ka- 
wawa standing about a hundred yards off, gazing, but not 
firing a shot or an arrow. * * * * Kawawa was not to be 
balked of his supposed rights by the unceremonious way in 



LIVINGSTONE THE MISSIONARY. 331 

which we had left him ; for, when we had reached the ford of 
the Kasai, about ten miles distant, we found that he had sent 
four of his men, with orders to the ferrymen to refuse us pas- 
sage. We were here duly informed tha& we must deliver up 
all the articles mentioned, and one of our men besides. This 
demand for one of our number always nettled every heart. 
The canoes were taken away before our eyes, and we were 
supposed to be quite helpless without them, at a river a good 
hundred yards broad, and very deep. Pitsane stood on the 
bank, gazing with apparent indifference on the stream, and 
made an accurate observation of where the canoes were hidden 
among the reeds. The ferrymen casually asked one of my 
Batoka if they had rivers in their country, and he answered 
with truth, 'No, we have none.' Kawawa's people then felt 
sure we could not cross. I thought of swimming when they 
were gone ; but after it was dark, by the unasked loan of one of the 
canoes, we soon were snug in our bivouac on the southern 
bank of the Kasai. I left some beads as payment for some 
meal which had been presented by the ferrymen; and the 
canoe having been left on their own side of the river. Pitsane 
and his companions laughed uproariously at the disgust our 
enemies would feel, and their perplexity as to who had been 
our paddler across. They were quite sure that Kawawa would 
imagine that we had been ferried over by his own people, and 
would be divining to find out who had done the deed. When 
ready to depart in the morning, Kawawa's people appeared on 
the opposite heights, and could scarcely believe their eyes 
when they saw us prepared to start away to the south. At last 
one of them called out: 'Ah, ye are bad! ' to which Pitsane 
and his companions retorted: ' Ah, ye are good, and we thank 
you for the loan of your canoe.' " 

The plain which had been covered with water when they 
crossed it going westward, was now dry, the water remaining 
only in a few scattered pools. During their second day on 
this plain, Livingstone records that he suffered from his 
twenty-seventh attack of fever. The next day, however, he 
considered himself well enough to travel; and June 8, they 
forded the Lotemba to the northwest of Dilolo, and regained 
their former path. 

Now they were among friends ; for they had conciliated all 
the chiefs in whose countries they had traveled, except the two 
that* have been mentioned. Their reception at Libonta, where 
they arrived July 27, was particularly cordial; for they were 
looked upon as men risen from the dead; the most skilful 



LIVINGSTONE THE MISSIONARY. 333 

diviners having long before declared that they had perished. 
The missionary's means, acquired in Loanda, had all been 
spent, during a journey in which many delays had occurred, 
but this made no difference to the natives whose love had 
been won long before. They kuew that Livingstone had been 
engaged in an effort to open the country to trade, and to sup- 
press the slave-trade, and that was enough for them. Even 
Livingstone's men said: "Though we return as poor as we 
went, we have not gone in vain." 

One of the adventures of the party shortly after they left 
Libonta is worth recording, as a characteristic accident: 

" I left Naliele on the 13th of August, and when proceeding 
along the shore at midday, a hippopotamus struck the canoe 
with her forehead, lifting one-half of it quite out of the water, 
so as nearly to overturn it. The force of the but she gave 
tilted ]\Iashauana out into the river; the rest of us sprang to 
the shore, which was only about ten j^ards off. Glancing 
back, I saw her come to the surface a short way off, and look 
at the canoe, as if to see if she had done much mischief. It 
was a female, whose young one had been speared the day 
before. No damage was done except wetting person and 
goods. This is so unusual an occurrence, when the precau- 
tion is taken to coast along the shore, that my men exclaimed: 
' Is the beast mad ! ' There were eight of us in the canoe at 
the time, and the shake it received shows the immense power 
of this animal in the water." 

Long before this, Livingstone had heard that a party of 
Matabele had brought a number of parcels to the south bank 
of the Zambesi, and left them there in the care of the Mako- 
lolo.^ The two tribes are sworn enemies, and the Makololo 
would not believe that Mr. Moffat had sent these goods to Dr. 
Livingstone, as the bearers told them. The Matabele an- 
swered : 

" Here are the goods ; we place them now before you, and if 
you leave them to perish the guilt will be 3'ours." 

After much divination, and with fear and trembling, the 
Makololo, who feared some attempt to bewitch them, built a 
hut over the parcels, and there Livingstone found them safe 
on his return in September, 1855, exactly a year after they 
reached that destination. Among other things, there was a 
copy of an address by Sir Eoderick Murchison before the 
Royal Geographical Society, in which he stated his conviction 
that the interior of Africa was not a vast plateau, but a vast 
basin, flanked by mountains and highlands. This was the very 



LIVINGSTONE THE MISSIONARY. 335 

same conclusion to which Livingstone had come, although 
with infinitely more difficulty : 

"In his easy-chair he had forestalled me by three years, 
though I had been working hard through jungle, marsh, and 
fever, and since the light dawned upon my mind at Dilolo, had 
been cherishing the pleasing idea that I should be the first to 
suggest the idea that the interior of Africa was a watery 
plateau of less elevation than flanking hilly ranges." 

From this point they went directly to Linyanti, where the 
men who had accompanied him were at last able to tell their 
own people of the wonderful things that they had seen. They 
had gone to the end of the world, and had only turned back 
when there was no more land. 

"Then you reached Ma-Eobert (as Mrs. Livingstone was 
called by them, because her eldest child was named Robert)?" 
asked one eagerly. 

Then the recounters of wonders were obliged to admit that 
she lived a little beyond the end of the world to which they 
had gone. 

The presents which had been sent gave great satisfaction ; 
and when Sekeletu appeared at church in the uniform which 
he had received, it attracted more attention than the sermon. 
Livingstone was soon overwhelmed with offers to accompany 
him to the east coa.st. Finally, the chief selected a party of those 
who were most anxious to go, and dispatched them under the 
care of an Arab trader, to learn how to trade. 

Livingstone remained at Linyanti until the latter part of 
October"; for it would haVe been extremely unhealthful and 
uncomfortable traveling so near the close of the dry season, 
when the thermometer sometimes stood at one hundred arid 
thirty-eight degrees in the shade. He had nothing to pay the 
men who were to accompany him, but was re-assured by the 
Makololo ; he was to take all the ivory in the country, and 
Sekeletu would furnish men to carry it. Such was the affec- 
tion which he had excited among them by his actions toward 
them. 

Escorted by Sekeletu and his followers as far as the island 
of Kalai, two days' journey below the mouth of the Chobe, he 
determined to visit the great cataract of the Zambesi to which 
he has given an English name — Victoria Falls : 

"Of these we had often heard since we came into the coun- 
try; indeed, one of the questions asked by Sebituane was, 
' Have you smoke that sounds in your country?' They did not 
go near enough to examine them, but viewing them with awe 




y>\ n ^^^ \ J 



LIVINGSTONE THE MISSIONARY. 337 

at a distance, said, in reference to the vapor and noise, ' Mosi 
oa tunya' (smoke does sound there). It was previously called 
Shongwe, the meaning of which I could not ascertain. The 
word for a pot resembles this, and it may mean a seething 
caldron, but I am not certain of it. Being persuaded that Mr. 
Oswell and myself were the very first Europeans who ever vis- 
ited the Zambesi in the center of the country, and that this is 
the connecting link between the known and the unknown por- 
tions of that river, I decided to use the same liberty as the Mako- 
lolo did, and gave the only English name I have affixed to any 
part of the country. * * * * After twenty minutes' sail 
from Kalai we came in sight, for the first time, of the columns of 
vapor appropriately called 'smoke,' rising at a distance of five 
or six miles, exactly as when large tracts of grass are burned 
in Africa. Five columns now arose, and, bending in the direc- 
tion of the wind, they seemed placed against a low ridge cov- 
ered w^ith trees ; the tops of the columns at this distance ap- 
peared to mingle with the clouds. They were white below, 
and higher up became dark, so as to simulate smoke very 
closely. The whole scene was extremely beautiful ; the banks 
and islands dotted over the river are adorned with sylvan vege- 
tation of great variety of colop and form. * * * * The 
falls are bounded on three sides by ridges 300 or 400 feet in 
height, which are covered with forest, the red soil appearing 
among the trees. * * * * j ^{^ not comprehend it until, 
creeping with awe to the verge, I peered down into a large rent 
which had been made from bank to bank of the broad Zam- 
besi, and saw that a stream of a thousand yards broad leaped 
down a hundred feet and then became suddenly compressed 
into a space of fifteen or tw^enty yards. * * * * Qn the 
left side of the island we had a good view of the mass of water 
which causes one of the columns of vapor to ascend, as it leaps 
quite clear of the rock, and forms a thick unbroken fleece all 
the way to the bottom. Its whiteness gave the idea of snow, 
a sight I had not seen for many a day. As it broke into (if I 
may use the term) pieces of water, all rushing on in the same 
direction, each gave off several rays of foam, exactly as bits of 
steel, when burned in oxygen gas, give off rays of sparks. 
The snow-white sheet seemed like myriads of small comets 
rushing on in one direction, each of which left behind its 
nucleus ra3's of foam. I never saw the appearance referred to 
noticed elsewhere. It seemed to be the effect of the mass of 
water leaping at once clear of the rock, and but slowly break- 
ing up into spray." 



338 LIVINGSTONE THE MISSIONARY. 

Livingstone selected a spot near the falls, the soil of which 
was perpetually moistened by the spray from the columns of 
vapor; and planted there a number of peach and apricot seeds, 
and also coffee-beans. This done, he cut his initials and the 
date, 1855, on a tree near by. 

It was nearly the end of November when Sekeletu parted 
from him and returned home ; Livingstone then turned toward 
the north, and traveled for a few days over a beautiful but un- 
inhabited district. There was a great abundance of game here, 
and on several occasions the lions approached unpleasantly 
close to their camp, but did no damage. 

Crossing the Mozuma early in December, they found them- 
selves among the Batonga. Their route now lay almost directly 
eastward, and mainly through hostile tribes. They managed, 
however, to escape conflict with the natives, and reached the 
banks of the Zambesi once more a few days after Christmas., 
The confluence of the Loangwa and the Zambesi was reached 
January 14, 1856. They had just passed Zumbo when the 
traveling procession was interrupted in a manner that is well 
worth description: 

''Tsetse and the hills had destroyed two riding oxen, and 
when the little one that I now rode knocked up, I was forced 
to march on foot. The bush being very dense and high, we 
were going along among the trees, when three buffaloes, which 
we had unconsciously passed above the wind, thought that 
they were surrounded by men, and dashed through our line. 
My ox set off at a gallop ; and when I could manage to glance 
back, I saw one of the men up in the air about ^ve feet above 
a buffalo, which was tearing along with a stream of blood run- 
ning down his flank. When I got back to the poor fellow, I 
found that he had lighted on his face, and though he had been 
carried about twenty yards on the horns of the buffalo before 
getting the final toss, his skin was not pierced nor was a bone 
broken. When the beasts appeared, he had thrown down his 
load and stabbed one in the side. It turned suddenly upon 
him, and before he could use a tree for defense, carried him 
off. We shamjDooed him well, and in about a week he was 
able to engage in the hunt again." 

They reached Tette March 3; here they rested for some 
time, the missionary making preparations, not only for con- 
tinuing his own journey, but for sending back most of his 
Makololo friends to their own country. One of them, Sek- 
webu, was to accompany him to England. The bearers set off 
on their return trip, and Livingstone, with his one attendant, 



LIVINGSTONE THE MISSIONARY. 339 

sailed down the Zambesi to Quillimane, the Portuguese point 
situated at its mouth. From this point, he went by sea to 
Mauritius, embarking July 12. But poor Sekwebu's brain was 
literally turned with all the wonders that he beheld ; he be- 
came insane. Livingstone quieted him by telling him that they 
were going to Ma-Robert; but this was not a sufficient medi- 
cine for the mind diseased, after a time or two. He became 
violent, and finally plunged overboard and was drowned. 

Livingstone was hospitably received at Mauritius, and re- 
mained there until he had recovered from the after effects of 
his African fevers. In November he came up the Red Sea; 
and finally, on the 12th of December, 1856, landed in England, 
after an absence of seventeen years, and nearly five years after 
he had parted from his wife and children at Cape Town, 

22 



CHAPTER XY. 



LIVIJfGSTOJVE THE GREAT EXPLORER. 

^UEING the course of his first journey (if that may be 
called one journey which included so many miles of 
travel, first north, then west, then east, with different 
goals in view) Livingstone had become thoroughly well 
acquainted with the slave-trade as carried on in the interior of 
Africa. He believed the great remedy for the existing evil 
would be the opening up of the country to commerce ; if the 
tribes of the interior could trade directly with the white man, 
and exchange their ivory and other articles of produce for the 
cloths and manufactured goods which they covet, there would 
be no temptation for them to capture slaves and trade them 
for these desired articles. It was for this reason that, having 
failed to find a suitable place for the establishment of a mis- 
sionary station, he gave up that idea, and made his way across 
the continent to Loanda, and then back again to the mouth of 
the Zambesi. Returning to England, his narrative of the time 
which he had spent in Africa aroused men to a longing to in- 
crease the missionary aid sent to that continent. 

But Livingstone had advanced beyond the position of a mis- 
sionary; his views had broadened so that he was no longer 
content to spend his days in one place, teaching the people 
around him; he was eager and anxious to put down the slave- 
trade, by showing the people who supplied the market that a 
more lucrative business could be established in the develop- 
ment of the agricultural and mineral resources of their coun- 
try. The government and the Royal Geographical Society 
lent him their heartiest aid; and the expedition to the Zam- 
besi was undertaken very soon after his return to England. 

Livingstone was made consul, which, of course, gave this 
undertaking a semi-national character, and enabled him to deal 
with other powers to much better advantage. The most lib- 

340 



LIVINGSTONE THE GREAT EXPLORER. 2^41 

eral provision was made in the way of supplies, which even in- 
cluded a small steam-launch, named the ' 'Ma-Robert. ' ' This was 
sent out from England in sections, and put together at the 
mouth of the Zambesi. 

Dr. Livingstone's brother, Rev. Charles Livingstone, who 
had been living for some years in the United States, was a 
member of the expedition; also Dr. Kirk, the celebrated bot- 
anist. They left England March 10, 1858, and reached the 
mouth of the Zambesi in May. Their instructions were to ex- 
tend the knowledge already attained of the geography and min- 
eral and agricultural resources of Eastern and Central Africa; 
to improve their acquaintance with the inhabitants, and to en- 
deavor to engage them to apply themselves to industrial pur- 
suits and to the cultivation of their lands with a view to the 
production of raw materials to be exported to Enghmd in re- 
turn for British manufactures. Their first object was to explore 
the Zambesi, its mouths and tributaries, with a view to their 
being used as highways 'for commerce and Christianity to pass 
into the vast interior of Africa. They entered the River 
Luawe first, because its entrance is so smooth and deep that 
the vessel could easily go in without a boat sounding ahead. 
Here the Ma-Robert was screwed together, and launched as 
the proper vessel for these coast explorations. 

They found the Luawe unnavigable at a short distance above 
its mouth, by reason of the vegetable matter in the channel ; 
after ascending about seventy miles, it ended in a marsh, be- 
ing only a tidal river after all. TJiey now resolved to try the 
East Luabo, as the main stream of the Zambesi is called. 
This proved to be the river which they sought, although it was 
not then known that the Zambesi has four separate mouths. 
J The Pearl, the vessel in which they had come from England, 
^companied the Ma-Robert as far as the Island of Simbo; 
when finding that the river was becoming too shallow for her 
draught (9 feet 7 inches) she steamed down the river, after 
having landed the goods belonging to the expedition on a small 
island; and the expedition to the Zambesi was fairly launched 
on its independent career. 

The country around the mouth of the Zambesi had long been 
in the possession of the Portuguese ; but their maps of it had 
been anything but reliable. It is charged that they had repre- 
sented the Quillimane as the true mouth of the Zambesi, in 
order to promote and protect the slave trade ; if the British 
vessels, and those of other nations, sent out to watch for slav- 
ers, could be persuaded to keep a close lookout on the Quilli- 



342 LIVINGSTONE THE GREAT EXPLORER. 

mane, as the outlet of the Zambesi, the slavers could readily 
sail down the true Zambesi and get safely out to sea before 
they should be discovered. Be this as it may, it is certain that 
one official Portuguese map had the mouth of the Mazaro, a 
narrow creek which in time of flood communicates with the 
Quillimane, as the point at which the Zambesi began to dis- 
charge its waters into the more northern river. As a fact, 
this creek is some six or eight feet above the level of the Zam- 
besi, except, as mentioned, during periods of very high water. 

Arrived at the mouth of this creek, the members of the ex- 
pedition found that they had run into a veritable hornets' 
nest. A half-caste named Mariano or Matakenya had built a 
stockade near the mouth of the Shire, and carried on his trade 
as a slave-hunter. So long as he confined his depredations to 
the tribes of the interior, the indignation of the Portuguese 
settlers was not aroused; but he was allowed to send his kid- 
napped victims in chains to Quillimane, thence to be sent to 
the French Island of Bourbon. But as soon as Mariano began 
to practice violence on the people nearer at hand, under the 
very guns of the fort, the whites began to protest. Mariano 
paid no attention ; and Dr. Livingstone was told, by a gentle- 
man of the highest standing, that it was no uncommon occur- 
rence for a slave to rush into the room where the informant's 
family was at dinner, pursued by one of Mariano's men with 
spear in hand to murder him. 

War was declared against Mariano, and a force was sent to 
take him. He resisted for a time ; but knowing that Portu- 
guese governors have small salaries, and are amenable to 
bribery, he went down to Qaillimane to " arrange " with the 
governor. But that official was of a different stamp from 
most of his predecessors; and clapped the atrocious mur- 
derer into prison. When the English explorers came into the 
country, IMariano's brother, Bonga, was at the head of the 
rebel forces ; and the contest was waging fiercely. 

The fact that they were Englishmen proved to both parties 
at once what were their opinions regarding the slave trade ; 
yet they were regarded as friends by Bonga's forces as well as 
by the Portuguese. On more than one occasion, they were 
almost in the midst of a fight; but happily escaped unharmed, 
and able to preserve their neutrality. 

The right bank of the Zambesi is held by the Landeens or 
Zulus, to whom the Portuguese pay a pretty heavy annual 
tribute. Eegularly every year the Zulus come to Senna and 
Shupanga to collect this tribute, which is really paid by the 



LtVllS'GSTOKT: THE GRjEAT EXPLOfeEK. 



343 



feAV wealthy merchants of Senna. They submit to pay two hun- 
dred pieces (sixteen yards each) of cloth, besides beads and 
brass wire, etc., to secure themselves from being plundered in 




Zulu Girls in Dancing Dress, 

war. The Zulu is like the Irish landlord of tradition; the 
more his tenants cultivate, the higher tribute he demands. 
On asking some of the Portuguese why they did not try to 




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LIVINGSTONE THE GREAT EXPLOEER. 345 

raise certain highly profitable products, the Englishmen re- 
ceiv^ed this characteristic reply: 

"What's the use of our cultivating any more than we do? 
The Landeens would only come down on us for more tribute." 

They arrived at Tette Sept. 8, and Dr. Livingstone at once 
went ashore. He was received by the Makololo with the 
most affecting joy; tempered with a ludicrous respect for his 
new clothes. Some were hastening to embrace him; when 
others cried out : 

*' Don't touch him; you will spoil his new clothes." 

Dr. Livingstone had heard, while he was in England, that 
his Makololos who had not returned to their own country were 
to receive from the Portuguese government a sufficient sup- 
port ; but he found now that no such rumor had ever reached 
Africa ; they had been given hoes and land sufficient for gar- 
dens by a generous officer of that government, but it had been 
a gift paid for out of his own pocket; and they had main- 
tained themselves by means of these gardens, and by cutting 
and selling wood. These now readily attached themselves to 
the expedition; and the leader was only too glad to have 
assistants whose faithfulness had been tried. 

Ascending the river, they carefully examined the Kebrabasa 
Rapids. After making their way seven or eight miles up 
through the swift current, they saw that this was not feasible 
until they knew what was to come next; and anchoring the 
little steamer below the rapids, proceeded to ascend the bank 
of the stream on foot. The stones n^on the path were so hot 
that the soles of the Makololo 's feet were blistered; but still 
they continued to advance. The Makololo told Dr. Living- 
stone that they had always thought that he had a heart, but 
that now they knew he had none; and appealed to Dr. Kirk 
to return, since the leader must have gone mad before he de- 
termined to go where no living foot could tread. Unfortunately 
for the Makololo, Dr. Kirk did not understand a word of their 
language; and Dr. Livingstone, knowing him to be as anxious 
as himself to explore the Kebrabasa, did not think it worth 
while to translate. 

At last, however, they arrived at the cataract of Morumba, 
which is a sloping fall of about twenty feet in thirty yards. It 
is sufficient to stop all navigation except in the highest floods, 
when the river sometimes rises eighty feet above the level of 
the dry season. 

They retraced their footsteps, then; although not exactly 
over the same path; they crossed Mount Morumba, which 



346 LiviNasTONE the great explorer. 

rises very near the fall, and camped on its side the first night 
of their return journey. As their guide had told them, the 
people were very ready to sell them provisions as long as they 
appeared to be leaving the country; in fact the ignorant peo- 
ple manifested the most unreasoning opposition to an expedi- 
tion the objects of which were beyond their comprehension. 
The story is told that shortly after their departure from Tette, 
the river rose a foot and became turbid. A native Portuguese 
went to the governor with a grave face and complained that 
that Englishman was '* doing something to the river." 

Finding that it was impossible to take their steamer of only 
ten-horse-power through Kebrabasa, and convinced that, in 
order to force a passage when the river was in flood, much 
greater power was required, due information was forwarded 
to her majesty's government, and application made for a 
more suitable vessel. In the mean time, they turned their at 
tention to the River Shire, a northern tributary of the Zambesi, 
which joins it about a hundred miles from the sea. The Portu- 
guese could tell them nothing concerning this stream, except 
that it was covered with a mass of aquatic plants, which they 
pronounced impassable. They received a hint, however, that 
it was not the duckweed, but the hostility of the natives which 
had caused the one Portuguese expedition for the exploration 
of this river to return without making any considerable 
progress. 

Their first trip to the Shire was in January, 1859. A con- 
siderable quantity of duckweed floated on the river for the 
first twenty-five miles, but not enough to obstruct navigation. 
They met with the first obstruction at the village of a chief named 
Tingane. This chief had always been the barrier to all inter- 
course between the Portuguese black traders and the natives 
farther inland; but on the explorers telling him that they 
had come neither to take slaves nor to fight, but only to open 
up a path by which their countrymen might come to pur- 
chase cotton or anything else that he had to sell (except 
slaves) he became at once quite friendly, and the men who 
had been dodging behind trees to take aim at the strangers 
with their poisoned arrows, came out and listened to the words 
of the missionary. 

They ascended the Shire for a distance of about one hun- 
dred miles from its mouth; although the windings of the 
river are such that this distance represents about two hundred 
miles of actual travel. At this point, their further progress 
was stopped by the rapids, the first of which was named by 



Lltt^^GSTOXE THE GREAT EXPLORER. Ml 

them Murchison Falls. During the time that they were ascend- 
ing the river, the natives kept a strong guard on the bank, 
night and day; apparently distrusting the strangers. The 
general opinion which the natives of this portion of Africa 
entertain in regard to white men does not speak well for the 
Portuguese, the first whites with whom they became ac- 
quainted. 

A second trip up the Shire was begun about the middle of 
March. Thanks to their conciliating behavior on the previous 
"journey, they found the natives extremely well disposed to- 
ward them. Leaving the banks of the river about ten miles 
below the falls, Drs. Livingstone and Kirk, with a number of 
Makololo, started on foot for Lake Shirwa. They traveled in 
a northerly direction over a mountainous country, among peo- 
ple who did not seem to be well-disposed, and with guides who 
were far from being trustworthy. This unreliability was 
partly due to their ignorance of the country and the language ; 
they asked to be led to "Nyanja Mukulu," or Great Lake, 
meaning thereby Lake Shirwa; but since the word Nyanja, or 
Nyanza, me^ns a lake, river, marsh, or even a rivulet, the 
guides did not clearly understand them, and conducted them 
to the Great Elephant Marsh. 

From this point, the party pressed on without guides, or with 
crazy ones. Eegarding these. Dr. Livingstone says : 

"They were often under great obligations to the madmen of 
the different villages ; one of these honored them, as they slept 
in the open air, by dancing and singing at their feet the whole 
night. These poor fellows sympathized wath the explorers, 
probably in the belief that they belonged to their own class ; 
and uninfluenced by the general opinion of their countrymen, 
they really pitied, and took kindly to the strangers, and often 
guided them faithfully from place to place, when no sane man 
could be hired for love or money." 

The perseverance of the party was finally crowned with suc- 
cess; for on April 18 they discovered Lake Shirwa, a body of 
bitter water, having no outlet, and containing leeches, fish, 
crocodiles and hippopotami. Their point of view was at the 
base of Mount Pirimiti or Mopeupeu, on its south-southwest 
side. Thence the prospect northward ended in a sea horizon 
with two small islands in the distance ; a larger one, resem- 
bling a hill-top and covered with trees, rose more in the fore- 
ground. Eanges of hills appeared on the east, and on the 
west stood Mount Chikala. The shore, near which they spent 
two nights, was covered with reeds and papyrus. 



LiVlNGStONE THE GREAT EXPLORER. 349 

From the people living near the lake, they gathered that 
there was a much larger one to the north, separated from 
Shirwa only by a tongue of land. But they considered that 
enough had been done for one expedition; it would be better 
to return from this point, and, having gained the confidence 
of the natives as far as this, make another trip for the explora- 
tion of countries beyond. They accordingly went back to their ^ 
vessel on the Shire. 

They reached Tette June 23, and from that point proceeded to 
the Kongone for the necessary repairs upon their vessel* They 
again ascended the Zambesi in August, and about the middle 
of that month reached the mouth of the Shire, which they 
proposed to ascend once more, and make, from the head of 
navigation, an overland trip to Lake Nyassa. 

They found the banks lined with hippopotamus traps ; for 
the animals were evidently very plentiful, if the tracks on the 
bank were any guide. The hippopotamus feeds only on 
land, and crops the grass as short and even as a mowing ma- 
chine. The trap consists of a beam five or six feet long, arm- 
ed with a spear-head or hard-wood spike, covered with poison, 
and suspended from an overhanging branch by a cord, which, 
coming down to the path, is held by a catch, to be set free 
when the brute treads on it. Being wary beasts, they are very 
numerous, even where these traps are plentiful. One got 
frightened by the ship as she was steaming close to the bank. 
In its eager hurry to escape it rushed on shore, and ran 
directly under a trap, when down came the heavily weighted 
beam on its back, driving the poisoned spear-head a foot deep 
into its flesh. In its agony it plunged back into the river, to 
die in a few hours, and afterward furnished a feast for the 
natives. The poison on the spear-head affects only that part 
of the flesh which is directly around the wound, and this is 
always thrown away. In some places the descending wood is 
weighted with heavy stones, but in others the hard, heavy wood 
needs no extra weight. 

As they passed the neighborhood of the Great Elephant 
Marsh, they saw many elephants; but these sagacious animals 
soon learned that the puffing monster was a thing to be avoid- 
ed, and fled in terror before the approach of the steamer. 
They succeeded, however, in catching a fine young elephant 
alive, as he was climbing up the bank to follow his dam ; but 
after he was drawn on board, he was wounded by one of the 
men, and died in a few days. 
They left ship August 28, 1859, for the discovery of Lake 



350 



LIVINGSTONE THE GREAT EXPLORER. 



Nyassa. The part}' numbed four whites, thirty-six Makololo, 
and two guides. The party was unnecessarily large, but it 
was thought that the strength of numbers would prevent 
attack from natives inclined to be hostile, and command re- 
spect from others. For the same reason, each one carried a 
musket, although many of the Makololo had never drawn a 
trigger. They were a week in crossing the highlands in a 
northerly direction; and having reached the Upper Shire val- 
ley, some 1200 feet above the sea-level, they were detained for 
some days by the sickness of one of the white men. 




Hippopotamus Trap. 

They found that the natives of this region were considerably 
advanced, in respect to their manufactures. They weave cot- 
ton cloth, by painfully slow processes ; make pottery, and dig the 



LIVINGSTONE THE GREAT EXPLORER. 351 

iron ore out of the hills and make it into good axes, spears, 
needles, arrow-heads, bracelets, and anklets. Every village 
has its charcoal-burners, its smelting-house, and its black- 
smiths. They weave neat baskets from split bamboos, and 
make fish-nets of a plant-fiber from their hills. 

These people, judging from the old men and women who 
came to look on the white men, are generally long-lived; but 
they do not owe their longevity to cleanliness; an old man 
told them that he remembered to. have washed once in his life, 
but it was so long ago that he had forgotten how it felt. They 
were much annoyed by one man, who persisted in preceding 
them from village to village and proclaiming that they had 
wandered; that they did pot know where they were going. 
Persuasions and remonstrances were alike in vain ; finally, he 
was informed that they were going to take him down to the 
river and w^ash him; he disappeared and was seen no more. 

The language here w^as so unlike those dialects with which 
Dr. Livingstone was acquainted, that they were obliged to 
have recourse to an interpreter. This man, Masakasa, had an 
unbounded faith in anything that was said in a book ; on one 
occasion, this faith served them vv^ell. The natives had per- 
sistently asserted that there was no such lake as that of which 
they were in search; but Masakasa knew that the lake was 
mentioned in a book, and grew indignant accordingly. 

"There is a lake," said he to the natives, ''for how could 
the white men know about it in a book if it did not exist?" 

Then they admitted that there was a lake ; and were prob- 
ably not a little impressed by the white man's magical knowl- 
edge of things he had never seen. They pressed on, and dis- 
covered Lake Nyassa a little before noon of September 16, 
1859. They could make out that there were hills on both sides 
of the lake, looking from their point of view at the southern 
end; but the haze from burning grass prevented their seeing 
very far. They learned afterward that they preceded a Ger- 
man explorer. Dr. Eoscher, by about two months in the dis- 
covery of this lake. The only results of his discovery, how- 
ever, were told in the depositions of his servants after they 
arrived at the Cape; for he was murdered by the natives 
shortly after reaching the lake. 

They were now among the Ajawa, who furnished a large 
number of slaves to the market, and are more debased in this 
traffic than most other tribes, since they sell each other. The 
chief with whom they remonstrated seemed ashamed of selling 
his own people, but apologized by saying that he sold only 



LIVINGSTONE THE GREAT EXPLORER. 353 

those who were bad. The party made but a short stay at Lake 
Nyassa, being, as usual, anxious to persuade the natives that 
they had no other object in view than to see the country. 
After a land-journey of forty days, they returned to the vessel 
October 6. It was necessary to send two of their number 
across the country from the Shire to Tette ; and Dr. Kirk and 
Mr. Rae, the engineer, undertook the journey. But during 
their absence, the vessel began to leak so badly that they were 
obliged to go to the Kongone again for repairs. The steel 
plates were defective, and had been damaged by some chemi- 
cal action shortly after the vessel was launched, so that they 
were full of minute holes. It leaked so badly that they were 
frequently compelled to mop up the cabin floor, and the en- 
gines proved so unsatisfactory that the Ma-Robert was re- 
christened the " Asthmatic." Returning from the sea, it was 
nearly the end of April, 1860, before they again reached 
Tette. 

As they proceeded up the Zambesi toward the country of 
theMakololo, they found that many of the Makololo, who had 
descended the river with Dr. Livingstone in 1856, deserted 
them; the reason of this was, that these men had formed new 
ties in Tette; marrying slave-wives, they could not take 
their wives or children with them, and gradually deserted the 
party until all who had married in Tette had left. Yet at set- 
ting out, they had declared that they wished to return to their 
own country. 

They of course left the Asthmatic below, as she could not 
ascend the Kebrabasa ; this was no matter of regret to the Mako- 
lolo who had been compelled to cut the wood for her fires on the 
former journeys. One of them laughingly exclaimed in bro- 
ken English : 

"Oh, Kebrabasa good, very good; no let shippee up to 
Sekeletu, too muchee work, cuttee woodyee, cuttee woodyee; 
Kebrabasa good." 

They arrived at the Chicova plains, the level country above 
the Kebrabasa hills, June 7, and at Zumbo, on the left bank 
of the Loanwa, on the 26th. Here they had some difficulty in 
getting ferried across the river; the ferrymen were all tipsy, 
and did not come when they were expected. Having a water- 
proof cloak, which could be inflated into a small boat, they 
sent one of their attendants across in this improvised canoe. 
At the summons thus delivered, three men brought them the 
shaky canoes, laslied together. Five men were all that could 
betaken at a trip; and after four trips, the ferrymen began to 



LIVINGSTONE THE GREAT EXPLORER. 355 

clamor for drink. The travelers had none to give ; and they 
became insolent, declaring that not another man should cross 
that day. One of the Makololo began to remonstrate with 
them, when a loaded musket was presented at him by one of 
the trio. In an instant the gun was out of the rascal's hands, 
a rattling shower of blows fell on his back, and he took an in- 
voluntary header into the river. He crawled up the bank a 
sad and sober man, and all three fell at once from the height 
of saucy swagger to a low depth of slavish abjectness. The 
musket was found to have an enormous charge, and might 
have blown the Makololo to pieces but for the promptitude 
with which his companions administered justice in a lawless 
band. They were all ferried safely across the river by eight 
o'clock in the evening. 

On the 4th of August they reached Moachemba, the first of 
the Batoka villages which then owed allegiance to Sekeletu. 
From this point, they could see distinctly, with the naked eye, 
the columns of vapor rising from Victoria Falls, although the 
cataract was twenty miles away. Here they learned that many 
of the Makololo had been regarded as dead, not having been 
heard of since they accompanied Dr. Livingstone to the sea. 
They also learned that a recent effort to establish a missionary 
station atLinyanti had proved a failure and been abandoned. 
On the 9th, they set out to visit the falls, in the canoes of a 
native named TubaMokoro, who was said to possess the best 
"medicine" for ensuring safety in the rapids above the falls. 
This important personage forbade all talking while in the ca- 
noes, as it might impair the power of the medicine ; and the white 
men, fearing to distract the steersman's attention when it 
might be critically necessary for him lo attend to his business, 
obeyed unhesitatingly. They found that the hippopotami had 
trodden down the fruit trees which Dr. Livingstone had 
planted on his previous visit; and now erected a strong hedge 
for protection to newly sown seeds. There was not much 
hope, however, but what the same animals would break down 
the hedge. 

Arriving at the town of Sekeletu, they found that, as they 
had been told, the chief was afflicted with the leprosy. He had 
been treated by several different doctors of his own tribe, and 
was now under the care of an aged negress who had come from 
some distance especially to take this case. Sekeletu, how- 
ever, insisted upon placing himself at once under the care of 
the white doctor; and Drs. Livingstone and Kirk gave him 
the best remedies, internal and external, that their store of 
23 



356 LIVINGSTONE THE GREAT EXPLORER. 

medicines afforded. He considered that his disease was the 
result of enchantment practiced by one of his enemies, and 
could not be persuaded otherwise. It was the opinion of 
his white physicians that the disease was rather due to the in- 
ordinate quantities of matokwane, or Indian hemp, which he 
smoked ; and they could hardly induce him to give it up while 
he was under their treatment. 

They found, indeed, that many of the natives are slaves of 
this pernicious habit, which makes the smokers feel strong in 
body, but weakens and finally destroys the mind. Both men 
and women indulge freely in its use ; although the men do not 
like their wives to follow their own example, and sometimes 
forbid it entirely. 

Dr. Livingstone determined now to go to Linyanti, in order 
to procure some medicines and other articles which he had 
left there in his wagon, eight years before. He found them 
all intact, and the wagon in fairly good condition, although 
the cover was, as might be expected, very rotten. The people 
inquired affectionately after "Ma-Robert" and her children, 
and asked why he had not brought them. 

*' Are we never more to know anything of them but their 
names?" asked the affectionate creatures, whose love had 
been won years before. 

Returning to Shesheke by a trip which required three days, 
the party left that point September 17, 1860, taking with 
them a number of Makololo who were to return with ad- 
ditional medicines for Sekeletu. The path now pursued was a 
little nearer the river than that by which they had come, in 
order to see Kalunda and the Moamba Falls. They passed 
over a rugged country, with many hills and perennial streams, 
of which the Sindi was the finest for irrigation. They en- 
camped on the Kolomo on the 1st of October; and on the 5th, 
after crossing some hills, rested at the village of Simariango. 

A considerable part of their journey eastward was made by 
water; and in at least one instance, their attendants showed 
their faithfulness. Entering the narrow gorge called Karivua, 
the huge waves of the mid-current began at once to fill the 
canoes. With great presence of mind, and without the least 
hesitation, two men lightened each by jumping overboard; 
they then ordered a Batoka to do the same. 

" I cannot swim," he replied. 

"Jump out, then, and hold on to the canoe," they an- 
swered him; " for the white men must be saved." 

Swimming alongside, they guided the swamping canoes 



LIVINGSTONE THE GRifAT EXPLORER. 357 

down the swift current to the foot of the rapid, and then ran 
them ashore to bale them out. Thanks to the bravery of 
these poor fellows, nothing was lost, although everything was 
well soaked. A few hundred yards brought them to an- 
other rapid; but as this was worse than the first, the canoes 
had to be unloaded, and the goods carried about a hundred 
yards. 

They continued their voyage down the river, not leaving 
their canoes until they arrived at Kebrabasa; here their 
bearers complained much about having to carry the goods, and 
wished that they had tried the rapids. This difficulty over, 
they reached Tette early on the morning of the 23rd of Novem- 
ber, having been absent a little over six months. The Zam- 
besi being unusually low, they remained at Tette till it rose a 
little, and then left on the 3rd of December for the Kongone. 
Here their vessel was laid up for repairs ; but the attempt was 
useless. New leaks broke out every day; the engine-pump 
gave way; the bridge broke down; three compartments filled 
at night. On the morning of the 21st the vessel grounded on 
a sandbank and filled; she could neither be emptied nor got 
off ; the river rose during the night, and all that could be seen 
of her the next morning was about six feet of her two masts. 
Thus ended the Ma-Robert, otherwise the Asthmatic. 

On the 31st of January, 1861, their new ship, the Pioneer, 
arrived from England, and anchored outside the bar of the 
Kongone ; but the weather being stormy, she did not venture 
into the harbor until five days later. Two cruisers came at 
the same time, on board one of which were Bishop Mackenzie 
and his assistants, for the Universities' Missions. 

The bishop desired them to take him and his colleagues up 
the Shire as far as Chibisa's, supposing that that would be a 
suitable place to establish the mission; but Dr. Livingstone, 
remembering the fate of the station at Linyanti, and fearful 
that, as there were no medical men on the bishop's staff, they 
might fall victims to the African fever, objected very strongly 
to this plan. In addition to this reason, was another: the 
Portuguese government refused to open the Zambesi to the 
ships of other nations, and it was therefore impolitic to ex- 
pend so much labor at this point, when others that were 
equally important and more easily accessible were neglected. 
Finally, it was decided that the bishop should accompany the 
Zambesi expedition to the Rovuma, which their new instruc- 
tions bade them explore, and ascertain whether the country 
around its headwaters was suitable for the establishment of a 



LIVINGSTONE THE GREAT EXPLOREE. 359 

station. The other members of the mission were to proceed, 
in one of the cruisers, to Johanna, and there await the orders 
of their superior. 

Arriving at the mouth of the Rovuma toward the end of 
February, it was not until the 11th of March that they pro- 
ceeded up the river, which had fallen four or five feet while 
they were delayed at the mouth, awaiting the arrival of the 
bishop ; for he had chosen to go this far in the cruiser Lyra. 
But the river fell rapidly as they ascended, and as the March 
flood is the last of the season, they saw that the only thing to 
save the Pioneer from being hopelessly grounded was to get her 
back to salt water as quickly as possible. Had the expedition 
been absolutely unincumbered, they would have left the ship 
and pushed on in boats or on foot, and done what they could 
toward the exploration of the river and Lake Nyassa, from 
which it was supposed to flow; but they were anxious to ad- 
vance the work of the mission, and therefore decided to re- 
turn to the Shire, see the mission party safely settled, and 
afterward explore Lake Nyassa and the Eovuma from the lake 
downward. Fever broke out on board the Pioneer at the 
mouth of the Rovuma, and the vessel was soon left, through 
the illness of the officers, to the management pf Dr. Living- 
stone. 

They arrived at the mouth of the Zambesi after a prosper- 
ous voyage, and steamed up to the mouth of the Shire without 
any special adventure. Their vessel, however, was not well 
adapted for their purpose in one particular: her draught was 
too great, being five feet, for the Shire. Much of their time 
was spent in getting her off sand-bars, and she could not vent- 
ure down the river until a rise had increased its depth. 

Arrived at Chibisa's village, they left the river, July 15, and 
with a sufficiently strong party, went inland to show the bishop 
a suitable station for the mission. Halting at the village of 
Mbame, they were told that a slave party on its way to Tette 
would presently pass through. *' Shall we interfere?" they 
asked of each other. The question was a difficult one to an- 
swer, for all of their valuable goods had been left at Tette, 
and if they were to interfere to free these slaves, the owners 
of them might retaliate by procuring the destruction of these 
stores. But the slave-hunters had taken advantage of the ex- 
pedition's opening the country to white men, and had persist- 
ently dogged their footsteps in places where they had never 
dared to venture before. The Englishmen therefore resolved 
to run all risks and put a stop, if possible, to the slave-trade. 



360 LIVINGSTONE THE GREAT EXPLORER. 

which had followed on the footsteps of their discoveries. A 
few minutes after Mbame had spoken to them, the slave party, 
a long line of manacled men, women and children, came wend- 
ing their way around the hill and into the valley, on the side 
of which the village stood. The black drivers, armed with 
muskets, and bedecked with various articles of finery, march- 
ed jauntily in the front, middle, and rear of the line; some of 
them blowing exultant notes out of ^a long tin horn. They 
seemed to feel that they were doing a very noble thing, and 
might proudly march with an air of triumph; but the instant 
the felloyrs caught a glimpse of the English, they darted off 
like mad into the forest — so fast, indeed, that they caught but 
a glimpse of their red cap* and the soles of their feet. The 
chief of the party alone remained, and he, from being in front, 
had his hand tightly grasped by a Makololo. He proved to be 
a well-known slave of the late commandant at Tette, and for 
some time the Englishmen's attendant while there. On asking 
him how he obtained these captives, he answered that he had 
bought them; but on inquiry being made of the people them- 
selves, all, save four, said they had been captured in war. 
While this inquiry was going on, he bolted, after his men. 

The captives knelt down, and in their way of expressing 
thanks, clapped their hands with great energy. They were 
thus left entirely on the hands of the whites, and knives were 
soon at work, cutting the women and children loose. It was 
more difficult to cut the men adrift, as each had his neck in 
the fork of a stout stick, six or seven feet long, and kept in by 
an iron rod which was riveted at both ends across the throat. 
With a saw, luckily in the bishop's baggage, one by one the 
men were sawn out into freedom. The women, on being told 
to take the meal they were carrying and cook breakfast for 
themselves and the children, seemed to consider the news too 
good to be true ; but after a little coaxing, went at it with 
alacrity, and made a capital fire by which to boil their pots 
with the slave sticks and bonds, their ^ old acquaintances 
through many a sad night and weary day. Many were mere 
children of five years and under. One little boy, with the 
simplicity of childhood, said to one of the liberators: 

*'The others tied and starved us; you cut the ropes and 
tell us to eat; what sort of people are you? Where did 
you come from?" 

The stories that the captives had to tell were heart-rending : 
two women had been shot the day before for attempting to untie 
the thongs; this, the rest were told, was to prevent them from 



LIVINGSTONE THE GREAT EXPLORER. 361 

attempting to escape. One woman had her baby's brains knock- 
ed out because she could not carry the load and it; and a man 
was dispatched with an axe because he had broken down with 
fatigue. Eighty-four, chiefly women and children, were liber- 
ated; and on being told that they were now free, and might 
go wherever they wished, or remain with their liberators, they 
all chose to stay; and the bishop decided that they should be 
attached to the mission, to be educated as members of a great 
Christian family. 

They proceeded next morning to Soche's with their liberated 
party, the men cheerfully carrying the bishop's goods. As 
they had begun, it was of no use to do the thing by halves, so 
eight others were freed in a hamlet on their path ; but a party 
of traders, with nearly a hundred slaves, fled from Soche's on 
hearing of these proceedings. Dr. Kirk and four Makololo 
followed them with great energy, but they got off clear to 
Tette. Six more captives were liberated at Mongazi's, and 
two slave-traders detained for the night, to prevent their 
carrying information to a still larger party in the front. Of 
their own accord they volunteered the information that the 
governor's servants had charge of the next party; but the 
Englishmen did not choose to be led by them, though they of- 
fered to acts as guides to his excellency's own agents. Two of 
the bishop's black men from the Cape, having once been 
slaves, were now zealous emancipators, and volunteered 
to guard the prisoners during the night. So anxious were 
these heroes to keep them safe, that, instead of keeping 
watch and watch, both kept watch together till toward four 
o'clock in the morning, when sleep stole gently over them 
both, and the wakeful prisoners, seizing the opportunity, es- 
caped. One of the guards, perceiving the loss, rushed out of 
the hut, shouting: 

"They are gone I The prisoners are off ! And they have 
taken my rifle with them, and the women, too ! Fire ! Ev- 
erybody fire !" 

The rifle and the women, however, were safe enough, the 
slave-traders being glad to escape alone. Fifty more slaves 
were freed the next day in another village ; and, the whole 
party being stark naked, cloth enough was left to clothe them, 
better probably than they had ever been clothed before. The 
head of this gang, whom the liberators recognized as the 
agent of one of the principal merchants of Tette, said that 
they had the license of the governor for all that they did. 
This was no news to the Englishmen, who were convinced 



362 LIVINGSTOXP.' THE GREAT EXPLORER. 

that it was quite impossible for an}^ enterprise to be under- 
taken there without the governor's knowledge and conni- 
vance. 

They now approached the Manganja country, where they 
had seen such evidence, on the previous journey, of progress 
in manufactures. The country was now desolated by a war 
between the inhabitants and the Ajawas; the villages were all 
deserted; the stores of corn were poured out in cartloads, 
and scattered all over the plains, and all along the paths, 
neither conquerors nor conquered having been able to convey it 
away. About two o'clock they saw the smoke of burning villages, 
and heard triumphant shouts, mingled with the wail of Man- 
ganja women, lamenting over their slain. The bishop then en- 
gaged the company of Englishmen in fervent prayer; and 
on rising from their knees, they saw a long line of Ajawa war- 
riors, with their captives, coming round the hill-side. The first 
of the returning conquerors were entering their own village 
below, and were welcomed back by the women with "lilliloo- 
ings." The Ajawa head man left the path on seeing the 
whites, and stood on an ant hill to obtain a good view of their 
party. They called out that they had come to have an inter- 
view with his people, but some of the Manganja, who followed 
them-, shouted: 

*'Our Chibisa is come !" 

Chibisa being well known as a great conjurer and general. 
The Ajawa ran off, yelling and screaming: 

''Nkondo! Nhondor (War! War!) 

The whites heard the words of the Manganja, but did not 
think of them at the moment as neutralizing all their own ex- 
pressions regarding peace. The captives threw down their 
loads on the path, and fled to the hills; and a large body of 
armed men came running up from the village, and in a few 
seconds were all around the whites, though mostly concealed 
by the projecting rocks and long grass. In vain the English- 
men protested that they had not come to fight, but to talk 
with them. They would not listen, having good reason in the 
cry of "Our Chibisa." Flushed with recent victory over three 
villages, and confident of an easy triumph over a mere hand- 
ful of men, they began to shoot their poisoned arrows, send- 
ing them with great force upward of a hundred yards, and 
wounding one of the Makololo through the arm. The slow 
withdrawal of the English up the ascent from the village only 
made them more eager to prevent their escape ; and in the belief 
that this retreat was the evidence of fear, they closed upon the 



LIVINGSTONE THE GREAT EXPLORER. 



363 



little party with bloodthirsty fury. Some came within fifty 
yards, dancing hideously; others, having quite surrounded 
them, and availing themselves of the rocks and long grasses 
hard by, were intent on cutting them off, while others made 
off with their v/omen and a large body of slaves. Four were 
armed with muskets ; and the Englishmen were obliged in 
self-defense to return their fire and drive them off. When 
they saw the range of the rifles, they very soon desisted and 
ran away ; but some of them shouted to the whites from the 
hill the consoling intimation that they would follow, and kill 
them where they slept. Only two of the captives escaped to 
the Englishmen, but probably most of those made prisoners 
that day fled elsewhere in the confusion. The whites returned 
to the village which they had left in the morning, after a 
hungry, fatiguing, and most unpleasant day. 




Ajawa and Manganja Barbed Arrow-Heads. 

Though the explorers could not blame themselves for the 
course which they had pursued, they felt sorry for what had 
happened. It was the first time they had ever been attacked 
by the natives or had come into collision with them ; though 
they had always taken it for granted that they might be called 
upon to act in self-defense, they were on this occasion less pre- 
pared than usual, no game having been expected here. The 
men had only a single round of cartridge each ; their leader 
had no revolver, and the rifle he usually fired with was left at 
the ship, to save it from the damp of the season. Had they 
known better the effect of slavery and murder on the temper 



3fD4 LIVINGSTONE THE GREAT EXPLORE^. 

of these blood-thirsty marauders, they would have tried mes- 
sages and presents before going near them. 

The bishop, feeling as most Englishmen would at the pros- 
pect of the people now in his charge being swept off into slav- 
ery by hordes of men-stealers, proposed to go at once to the 
rescue of the captive Manganja, and drive the marauding 
Ajawa out of the country. All were warmly in favor of this 
save Dr, Livingstone, who opposed it on the ground that it 
would be better for the bishop to wait, and see the effect of 
the check the slave-hunters had just experienced. On the 
bishop inquiring if in the event of the Manganja asking aid 
against the Ajawa, it would be his duty to accede to the re- 
quest: 

"No," replied Dr. Livingstone, "you will be oppressed by 
their importunities, but do not interfere in native quarrels." 

It would have been better if the bishop had followed this 
advice, which he mentions in his journal. 

The members of the mission now having proceeded far enough 
to be able to form their own opinion of the country, the Zam- 
besi expedition left them, and returned to the ship. A few 
days after their return, a party consisting of Dr. Livingstone, 
Dr. Kirk, and Charles Livingstone started for Lake Xyassa 
with a light four-oared gig, a white sailor, and a score of 
attendants. They hired people along the path to carry the 
boat past the forty miles of the Murchison Cataracts for a 
cubit of cotton cloth a day. This was su'ch magnificent pay, 
that twice the required number of men eagerly offered their 
services; crowds followed them; and it was only by taking 
down the names of the porters engaged in the morning that 
they could dispute claims made by those who had only helped 
during the last ten minutes of the evening. 

After passing the cataracts, they launched their boat upon 
the broad and deep waters of the Upper Shire, and were virtu- 
ally'on the lake, for the gentle current shows but little differ- 
ence of level. The natives regard the Upper Shire as a pro- 
longation of LakeNyassa; for where what the explorers called 
the river approaches Lake Shirwa, a little north of the moun- 
tains, they said that the hippopotami, "which are great night 
travelers," pass from one lake into the other. There the land 
is fl.Mt, and only a short land journey would be necessary. 

The geographical features of the lake which they now en- 
tered have become comparatively well known since that day, 
so that it is unnecessary here to enlarge upon the subject; 
nor were they impressed, as other discoverers have been, with 



LIVINGSTONE THE GREAT EXPLORER. 365 

the grandeur of the scene before them when they first came in 
sight of it. At this second entrance into Lake Nyassa, as on 
the previous occasion, the air was full of smoke from burning 
grass, and their view was consequently extremely contracted. 

By Chitanda, near one of the slave-crossing places, they 
were robbed for the first time in Africa, and learned by ex- 
perience that these people, like more civilized nations, have 
expert thieves among them. It might have been only a co- 
incidence, but they never suffered from imprudence, loss of 
property, or were endangered, unless among people familiar 
with slaving. They had such a general sense of security, that 
^never, save when they suspected treachery, did they set a 
watch at night. Their native companions had, on this oc- 
casion, been carousing on beer, and had removed to a dis- 
tance of some thirty yards, that their free and easy after- 
dinner remarks might not be heard by their employers. Two 
of the whites had a slight touch of fever. Between three and 
four o'clock in the morning some light-fingered gentry came, 
while the explorers slept ingloriously — rifles and revolvers all 
ready — and relieved them of most of their goods. The boat's 
sail, under which they slept, was open all around, so that the 
feat was easy. One of them felt his pillow moving, but, in 
the delicious dreamy state in which he lay, thought it was one 
of the attendants adjusting his covering, and so, as he fancied, 
let well enough alone. 

Their consternation on awaking in the morning and finding 
their clothing, beads, and rice gone, may well be imagined. 
Their first question to each other was: " Is the cloth gone ? " 
For the loss of that would have been equivalent to all their 
money. Fortunately, the parcel had been used as a pillow 
that night, and thus was safe. The rogues left on the beach a 
pair of boots and the aneroid barometer, also some dried 
plants and fishes ; but they carried off many other specimens 
which had been collected, some of the notes of the journey, 
and nearly all of their clothing. They could not suspect the 
people of the village where they lay; they had probably been 
followed by the thieves for several days, watching their op- 
portunity. 

They found that the northern end of the lake was the scene 
of lawlessness and bloodshed. So threatening did the various 
parties of natives appear, that the attendants of the explorers, 
who were making the journey by land, while the white men 
kept to the boat, became afraid to go on, unless a white man 
should join their party; and indeed, the danger was not small. 



366 LIVINGSTONE THE GREAT EXPLORED. 

Dr. Livingstone accordingly left the boat, and having taken 
the first morning's journey along with them, and directing the 
boat to call for him at a bay in sight, both parties proceeded 
north. In an hour Dr. Livingstone and his party struck in- 
land, on approaching the foot of the mountains which rise 
abruptly from the lake. Supposing that they had heard of a 
path behind the high range which there forms the shore, those 
in the boat held on their course ; but it soon began to blow so 
fresh that they had to run ashore for safety. While delayed 
for a couple of hours, two men were sent up the hill to look 
for the land party, but they could see nothing of them, and 
the boat party sailed as soon as it was safe to put to sea, with 
the conviction that the missing ones would regain the lake in 
front. 

The boat pa&sed a couple of parties, evidently lake pirates, 
who assured them that there was a path behind the hills. Pur- 
sued by another party of pirates, they put their boat to its 
utmost speed to escape; and after sailing twelve or fifteen 
miles north of the point where Dr. Livingstone had left them, 
a gale compelled them to seek shelter in a bay. A succession 
of gales prevented their advancing or going back to the point 
whence they had started. 

In the meantime, Dr. Livingstone and his party had tried 
the path behind the hills, and found it so bad as to be almost 
impassable. They therefore turned back to the coast, expect- 
ing to find the boat; but only saw it disappearing away to the 
north. They pushed on as briskly as possible after it, but the 
mountain-flank which forms the coast proved excessively tedi- 
ous and fatiguing; traveling all day, the distance made, in a 
straight line, was under five miles. As soon as day dawn- 
ed the march was resumed ; and after hearing at the first in- 
habited rock that their companions had passed it the day be- 
fore, seven Mazitu suddenly appeared before them. These 
demanded presents, and became boisterous; but the quiet per- 
sistence of Dr. Livingstone made them retreat. Their pres- 
ence showed that there was more or less danger to be encount- 
ered. The next night was s-pent, unconsciously, on the very 
brink of a precipice ; the party having traveled during every 
moment of daylight, and fearing to kindle a fire lest it should 
attract the attention of the Mazitu. The next night was also 
spent without fire, except a little for cooking the flesh of a 
goat which they killed. The next day. Dr. Livingstone was, 
delighted to see the boat coming back, having been separated 
from his companions for four days. 



LIVINGSTONE THE GREAT EXPLORER. 367 

Their exploration of the lake extended from the 2nd of Sep- 
tember to the 27th of October, 1861 ; and having expended or 
lost most of the goods they had brought, it was necessary to 
go back to the ship. They reached the vessel November 8, in 
a very weak condition, having suffered more from hunger than 
on any previous trip. Bishop Mackenzie came down to the 
ship to visit them, and gave a glowing account of his success 
at the mission. It was hoped that it could soon be made self- 
sustaining to a considerable degree. 

The river was rapidly and steadily falling; and they were 
obliged to wait until it should begin to rise, before the Pioneer 
could cross the bars. Not until January 7 did they leave their 
anchorage at Ruo, reaching the Zambesi on the 11th. Arrived 
at Tette, they expected to be called to account, in some way, for 
liberating the slaves ; but beyond a mere mention of the fact 
by one of the owners of the liberated captives, nothing was 
said ; all the others seemed to be ashamed to speak of it. 

Descending the Zambesi, they anchored in the Great Luabo 
mouth ; and here, January 30, the British vessel Gorgon arrived, 
bringing Mrs. Livingstone and some ladies who were to join 
their relatives connected with the Universities' Mission. This 
vessel also brought out the sections of a new iron steamer in- 
tended for the navigation of Lake Nyassa, called the Lady of 
the Lake, or Lady Nyassa. Owing to the rivers being in flood, 
their progress up stream was extremely slow ; and they were 
finally obliged to put the hull of the Lady Nyassa together, and 
tow her up to Murchison Falls. 

They were naturally anxious, as they progressed, to receive 
news of the mission ; but it was some time before they were 
able to learn anything of it. At last, however, they learned 
that the bishop and Mr. Burrup had both died, from the con- 
sequences of exposure during a trip undertaken to rescue some 
of their "Mission family" of liberated slaves, who had been 
recaptured. The bishop's sisters and Mr. Burrup 's wife had 
arrived on the Gorgon, and just reached the Shire in time to 
learn the sad news of the two deaths. 

Shortly after this, the surviving members of the mission 
decided to remove to the lower Shire valley — a course which 
had the fatal consequences that Dr. Livingstone foresaw. 

Many members of the Zambesi expedition were prostrated 
by the fever, which seems to have raged with unusual viru- 
lence this year; and they noticed that an extraordinary num- 
ber of natives wore the stripes of palm-leaf which are their 
sign for sickness and mourning. In April, Mrs. Livingstone 



LIVINGSTOXE THE GREAT EXPLORER. 369 

was taken down; and after a few days' illness, died April 27, 
1862. She had come out again to Africa, thinking to assist 
her husband in his work as she had dojie before ; but was taken 
before she could reach those who affectionately remembered 
"Ma-Robert." She was buried at Shupanga, under the shade 
of a wide-spreading baobab tree. 

After many delays, the Lady Nyassa was launched on the 
23rd of June. In accordance with their customs, the natives 
hotly discussed the question of what would be the result of 
putting so much iron in the water; some affirming that it 
would go to the bottom at once, others asserting that the white 
men had powerful medicine that would enable them to keep 
even iron from sinking. Dr. Livingstone frequently notes the 
warm discussions which the negroes of this part of Africa hold 
over any question upon which they chance to differ; these dis- 
cussions often ending in laying wagers as to the event of a 
given course. When the discussion cannot be settled this 
way, one party will challenge the other to a foot-race, and the 
winner is held to have been in the right. 

The Portuguese officials threw so many obstacles in the way 
of ascending the Zambesi, that they at last concluded to ex- 
plore the Rovuma, at least until the water of the Zambesi 
should be at a stage which would not assist these officers in 
their efforts to detain them. They accordingly sailed for the 
mouth of the Rovuma. The first people with whom they met 
were inclined to be hostile; but as they ascended the river, 
they found them more friendly. At last, after traveling about 
a hundred and forty miles by the river's course from the sea, 
or nearly two degrees of longitude in a straight line from the 
coast, they were obliged to stop. The river was narrow and 
full of rocks, with a rapid divided into such narrow passages 
that only a native canoe could pass through them. The 
natives reported a worse place above their turning-point, the 
passage being still narrower. They now saw that their easiest 
path to Nyassa was by way of the Shire, even with the Portu- 
guese officials in the way; and they decided to return and try 
that path again. They reached the Pioneer.. October 9, and 
put to sea nine days later. 

Their destination was the Zambesi, but their fuel failed, 
and they were obliged to put into Quillimane. The delay thus 
occasioned brought them to the Zambesi so late in the season, 
that that river was very low, and their progress was cor- 
respondingly impeded. While Avaiting the March rise, they 
unscrewed the Lady Nyassa at a point about five hundred 



370 LIVINGSTONE THE GREAT EXPLORER. 

yards below the first cataract, and began to make a road over 
the thirty-five or forty miles of land portage by which to carry 
her up piecemeal. 

The valley of the Shire had been well populated when they 
saw it on their former expeditions ; but now, the results of 
the slave-trade, combined Avith those of a famine induced by 
drought, had turned the once smiling country into a wilder- 
ness. Everywhere that they turned, they saw desolation; and 
the living were not enough to bury the dead. Decaying 
corpses poisoned the atmosphere, or floated down the river 
in too great numbers for the over-gorged crocodiles to con- 
sume. The effect upon the spirits of the explorers may be im- 
agined; and when to this feeling was added sickness, it was 
judged best that the two who suffered most severely phys- 
ically, should return home. These were Dr. Kirk and Charles 
Livingstone. The parting took place May 19 ; and with them 
went all the whites that could be spared. 

On the 2nd of July, a dispatch was received from Earl Rus- 
sell, containing instructions for the withdraAval of the expedi- 
tion. The attempt to open up this portion of Africa to trade 
was regarded as practically hopeless, while the Portuguese 
government maintained such an attitude — counteracting the 
effect of its open instructions to its officials by actual private 
instructions, or by allowing abuses of authority which prac- 
tically nullified the laws made in Lisbon. In the then con- 
dition of the river, however, it was useless to attempt a re- 
turn to the sea. 

They accordingly decided to make an exploratory journey 
on foot to the northward. Crossing the country to the south- 
ern shores of Lake Nyassa, they skirted the western coast of 
that body of water almost half-way to the northern end ; then, 
by a three days' journey to the westward, reached a village on 
the banks of a tributary of theLoangwa. It was now the lat- 
ter part of September ; and if they were to take advantage of 
the winter floods, they could not afford to go farther. From 
this point, their path was, with slight variations, that by 
which they had come. Reaching the ship, they took advan- 
tage of a rise about the middle of January to sail down the 
Shire, and, after some delays, occasioned by waiting to take 
on board some members of the helpless **Mission family" of 
Bishop Mackenzie, the mission having now been abandoned, 
they reached Zanzibar April 16, 1864; and after two weeks 
spent there, directed the course of the Lady Nyassa to Bom- 
bay. Early in June, after sailing more than twenty-five hun- 



LIVINGSTONE THE GREAT EXPLORER. 



371 



dred miles, they sighted Bombay; the expedition to the Zam- 
besi had come to an end. 




24 



Hercules Falls, South Africa. 



CHAPTER XYI. 



LIYIKGSTOKE'S LAST JOUBJfEY. 

HE Zambesi expedition was substantially a failure ; and 
no one felt this more keenly than its illustrious leader. 

vTv Not only had he spent thousands of pounds of the Gov- 

' ernment's money and of his own, without attaining any 
appreciable result, or at least any such result as had been ex- 
pected, but his failure had brought the whole subject of Afri- 
can exploration into disfavor with his countrymen. He re- 
turned to England, a disappointed man. But although the 
popular feeling was now as much against the exploration of 
Africa as at the close of the first journey it had been in favor 
of it, there were some whose interest was not lightly to be 
changed. The president of the Eoyal Geographical Society 
still held the work as of the same importance ; and it was Sir 
Koderick Murchison who, almost as soon as he had returned, 
proposed that the explorer should undertake a third journey, 
for the purpose of fixing the true water-shed of Inner South- 
ern Africa. After much difficulty. Sir Roderick persuaded the 
Government to advance ^\q hundred pounds for this purpose ; 
the Council of the Royal Geographical Society subscribed as 
much more; and "a valued private friend" of Dr. Living- 
stone's placed a further thousand pounds at his disposal. 

The expedition was organized at Bombay, and proceeded 
thence to Zanzibar. From this point, Livingstone sailed down 
the coast to Mikindany Bay^ near the mouth of the Rovuma 
River; thence they were to proceed overland to Lake Nyassa. 

His attendants numbered thirty-six. Of these, three had 
been with him on the previous trip, employed, not at the be- 
ginning, but after the arrival of the Pioneer ; of these we shall 
have occasion hereafter to single out Susi by name. Two of 
his attendants were among the slaves liberated by the party 
when Bishop Mackenzie was with it; of these, Chuma is the 

372 



Livingstone's last journey. 373 

one whose name has been perpetuated by what he did for his 
master. 

Six camels, two buffaloes and a calf, two mules, and four 
donkeys, were the animals attached to the expedition. It should 
be noted that while the bite of the tsetse is fatal to the horse 
and to cattle, it does not affect the donkey or the mule any 
more than it injures the wild beasts or man. This fact will ex- 
plain the reason for selecting these animals. 

They reached Eovuma Bay March 22, 1866; and landed 
April 6, at the point chosen. Then the march began, nearly 
due west, as they followed the course of the river. The jour- 
ney to the lake is marked only by misfortunes. The camels 
proved as vulnerable to the tsetse as cattle, and all died 
from the bites. The mules and three donkeys succumbed to 
the ill-usage of their drivers. The thirteen Sepo} s mutinied, 
and then proved so worthless that Dr. Livingstone was obliged 
to dismiss them; the ten Johanna men deserted in a body; 
one of the nine Nassick boys died, and another met some of 
his friends and concluded to remain with them. Thus the ex- 
pedition of thirty-seven which had left Zanzibar had dwindled 
down to a little group of twelve persons. 

The first hundred pages of his journal of this expedition are 
melancholy reading; containing, as they do, little beyond the 
record of events which would have discouraged a less deter- 
mined explorer to the point of retracing his footsteps and giv- 
ing up the effort : and of devices for easing the pangs of hun- 
ger; for which the folly and laziness of the attendants them- 
selves were largely responsible. But Livingstone's was too 
great a mind to be shaken by such adverse winds as these ; and 
he pressed steadily forward. 

There is yet another element of sadness in these early pages 
of his journal. Even in the first stages of his journey, there 
was again laid bare to his eyes "the great open sore of the 
world," as the slave-trade has fitly been styled. In a little 
more than two months after leaving the coast, the first indica- 
tions that they were on the track of the slave-traders appear- 
ed. First, they passed by a woman tied by the neck to a tree, 
and dead; the people of the surrounding country explained 
that she had been unable to keep up with the other slaved in 
a gang, and her master had determined that she should not be- 
come the property of any one else if she recovered after rest- 
ing a time. They saw others tied up in a similar manner, and 
others lying in the path shot or stabbed, a pool of their own 
blood surrounding them. The explanation which the traveler 



LIVINGSTONE *S LAST JOURNEr. 375 

invariably received was that the Arab who owned these vic- 
tims was enraged at losing his money by the slaves becoming 
unable to march, and vented his spleen by murdering them. 
Dr. Livingstone remarks that the traders are quite well aware 
that such an example as this spurs the others to renewed en- 
deavors to keep up with the march, even when their strength 
is rapidly failing them. In other cases, they found slaves who 
were dying of starvation, having been abandoned because they 
could not go on, or because the trader found his stock of pro- 
visions insufficient for those under his charge. 

On the 8th of August, he again reached the shores of Lake 
Nyassa, this time at the mouth of the Masinje River. " It was 
as if I had come back to an old home I never expected again 
to see," he writes; "and pleasant to bathe in the delicious 
waters again, hear the roar of the sea, and dash in the rollers." 
He remained at this point for several days, taking observa- 
tions, and writing up his journal fully. Then he skirted the 
southern shore of the lake, reaching the western borders Sep- 
tember 25. 

It had been his intention to strike directly north-west from 
Nyassa for the exploration of Lake Tanganyika; but the in- 
tervening country was filled with hostile Mazitu, and it was 
not safe for his little party to attempt to cross it. He there- 
fore resolved to journey directly west until he reached the 
Zalyanyama Mountains, and then to proceed nearly due north 
until the lake was reached. 

Most of the country crossed in this westward journey was 
lowland, of the kind known in Africa as " sponges." Where- 
ever a plain sloping toward a narrow opening in hills or high- 
er ground exists, we have the conditions requisite for the form- 
ing of an African sponge. The vegetation, not being of a peat- 
forming kind, falls down, rots, and then forms a rich black 
loam. In many cases, a mass of this loam, two or three feet 
thick, rests on a bed of pure river sand, which is revealed 
by crabs and other aquatic animals bringing it to the surface. 
In the dry season, the black loam is cracked in all directions, 
and the cracks are often as much as three inches wide, and 
very deep. The whole surface falls down and rests on the 
sand; but when the rains come, the first supply is nearly all 
absorbed in the sand. The black loam forms soft slush, and 
floats on the sand. The narrow opening prevents it from mov- 
ing off in a landslip, but an oozing spring rises at that spot. 
All the pools in the lower portion of this spring-course are 
filled by the first rains, which happen south of the equator 




TAXTASTIC AFRICAJ^ HEAD-DRESSES. 



LIVINGSTONE *S LAST JOITRNEr. 377 

when the sun goes vertically over any spot. The second, or 
greater rains, happen in his course north again, when all the 
bogs and river-courses being wet, the supply runs off, and 
forms the inundation. This was certainly the case which 
Livingstone had observed on the Zambesi and the Shire ; and, 
taking the different times for the sun's passage north of the 
equator, he considered that it explained the inundation of the 
Nile. 

It may be inferred that traveling over ground of this nature 
was not the easiest thing in the world ; but so long as the little 
party was not thrown among hostile tribes, it did not matter so 
much. The people through whose territory they were passing 
were Manganja, a very industrious race, combining agriculture 
and hunting with nets with various handicrafts, such as weav- 
ing and working in iron. 

The Manganja are very ceremonious in their demeanor to- 
ward each other; and were very friendly to the strangers. In 
return for the food and native sweet beer with which the chiefs 
generally provided them at each stopping-place, Livingstone 
usually gave a " cloth," (two yards of unbleached muslin), and 
so little clothing is worn in this country that this was consid- 
ered quite a munificent payment. Owing, however, to the 
raids and forays of the Mazitu, food was very scarce in some 
localities, and more than once the caravan was almost on the 
verge of starvation. 

They crossed the Loangwa, the great northern tributary of 
the Zambesi, the middle of December; and reached the Cham- 
beze late in the following January (1867). But before they 
got to the banks of this latter river, they had met with a loss 
which affected the whole after history of the expedition ; and 
the editor of Livingstone's Last Journals has advanced the 
statement that this loss materially hastened his death, by leav- 
ing him without the means of counteracting fever, and thus 
allowing his constitution to be undermined. 

The desertion of so large a number of his men in the very 
outstart of the expedition had made him dependent upon the 
people of the country through which he passed for porters and 
for guides ; the Johanna men had been intended chiefly for the 
latter purpose. 

They were traveling through the forest near the Lobo, hav- 
ing just set out from Lisunga. Their guides were two "Waiyau 
who had joined them some time before, and who were consid- 
ered perfectly trustworthy because of their uniform good con- 
duct ever since they had joined the caravan. A boy named 



Livingstone's last journey. 379 

Baraka, who was very careful, had charge of the medicine 
box, which was packed with a parcel containing ^ve large 
cloths and all Baraka's clothing and beads. The Waiyau of- 
fered to exchange burdens for a while with Baraka, his own be- 
ing the lighter (his real reason was that his own contained no 
cloth). Baraka consented. The fugitives watched their 
chance, and suddenly disappeared in the dense forest. Be- 
sides Baraka's package, they took all the dishes, a large box 
of powder, some flour, for which a high price had been paid, 
the tools, two guns, and a cartridge-pouch. The loss of these 
things was bad enough, but the great loss was the medicine. 
Livingstone says : 'T felt as if I had now received the sen- 
tence of death, like poor Bishop Mackenzie," whose medicines 
had been wetted and rendered worthless by the upsetting of a 
boat. 

The caravan returned to Lisunga, and men were at once sent 
out to scour the surrounding country for a trace of the fugi- 
tives. Livingstone was aware that they could attach no value 
whatever to the medicine-chest, but would throw it and its 
precious contents away as soon as they had got the clothing 
and beads out of the parcel. 

They remained for two days at Lisunga, and then, having 
bought all the provisions which the chief had to sell, were 
obliged to push forward in spite of the rain. For the next 
few days, they had much diificulty in obtaining food; but 
looked forward to great plenty when they should have reached 
the village of the powerful Chitapangwa. 

' This was called Molemba ; and they came to it about noon of 
the last day of January. It was surrounded by a triple stock- 
ade, the inner being defended also by a deep, broad ditch and 
a hedge of a thorny shrub, resembling the tomato or night- 
shade family. Chitapangwa sent to inquire if they desired an 
audience; and the messenger informed them that they must 
take something in their hands the first time they went to see 
so great a man. Dr. Livingstone was tired from marching, and 
sent word that he would not come until evening. About ^ve 
o'clock he sent notice of his coming. They passed through^ 
the inner stockade, and then to an enormous hut, where sat 
Chitapangwa, with three drummers and ten or more men, 
with two rattles in their hands. The drummers beat furiously, 
and the rattlers kept time to the drums, two of them advanc- 
ing and receding in a stooping posture, with rattles near the 
ground, as if doing the chief obeisance ; but still keeping time 
with the others. The traveler declined to sit on the ground, 



380 Livingstone's last journey. 

and so an enormous tusk was brought for him. The chief sa- 
luted courteously. He had a fat, jolly face, and legs loaded 
with brass and copper leglets. Dr. Livingstone mentioned 
his losses by the desertion of the Waiyau, but as power is" 
merely nominal, Chitapangwa could do nothing. After talk- 
ing a while, he conducted his guest to a group of cows, and 
pointed out one. 

"That is yours," he said, politely. 

The tusk on which the explorer had sat was also sent after 
him to his quarters, as being his. Before they separated, 
Chitapangwa put on the cloth which Livingstone had given 
him, as a token of acceptance ; and further showed his grat- 
itude by sending two large baskets of sorghum to the stran- 
ger's hut after dark. The gift of the cow, however, proved a 
delusion and a snare; for when the traveler would have it 
killed the next day, a man interfered, and pointed out a much 
smaller one ; an appeal to the chief ended in his having to pay 
Chitapangwa about four times the value of the animal in 
cloth, and then the savage was not satisfied. 

Sending a number of letters from this point by means of a 
small party of Arab slavers, who were on their road to Zan- 
zibar, Dr. Livingstone remained at this village about three 
weeks. This stay was partly on account of illness, as he was 
taken down with the fever, which he had no means of curing. 
But much of the time was spent in negotiating for food with 
Chitapangwa. 

About the middle of March, they met with an enemy who 
had not before been encountered. Dr. Livingstone says: 

*'A shower of rain set the driver-ants on the move, and 
about two hours after we had turned in we were overwhelmed 
by them. They are called kalandu, or nkalanda. To describe 
this attack is utterly impossible. I wakened covered with 
them ; my hair was full of them. One by one they cut into 
the flesh, and the more they are disturbed, the more vicious 
are their bites ; they become quite insolent. I went outside 
the hut, but there they swarmed everywhere; thej covered 
the legs, biting furiously; it is only when they are tired that 
they leave off." 

They reached Lake Tanganyika the 1st of April, viewing it 
from the summit of the ridge two thousand feet above its 
level, which forms the southern boundary of its cup-like bed. 
The village at this point, Pambete, is surrounded with palm- 
oil-trees, tall and graceful as those found upon the west 
coast. 



LIVISTGSTOKE^S LAST JOURNEY. 381 

Bat the leader of the expedition was too weak and ill to 
make journeys about the lake. At one time, he was uncon- 
scious for several hours from the effects of fever; and finally 
his faithful servants hung a blanket before the entrance to his 
hut, that the curious natives might not be witnesses of his 
weakness. Nor could he learn anything by inquiry of the 
people. Either they were wholly ignorant, or they mistrusted 
him so much that they would give no information. 

They remained at this village a month, before the leader was 
able to travel; and then he was far from being well. Toward 
the end of May, they arrived at Chisaka, Chitimba's village, 
and here they were detained for more than three months, 
owing to trouble between a party of Arab traders and a native 
chief, Nsama. Dr. Livingstone frankly says he heard but one 
side of the story, that of the Arabs, and hence cannot pretend 
to state the case truly ; but the fact that the native chiefs gen- 
erally condemned Nsama seemed to indicate that he was in the 
wrong. About the middle of September, however, the Arabs 
having lost about fifty men and Nsama probably twice as many, 
negotiations for a peace w^ere entered upon; and as was often 
the case among civilized nations in other days, this peace was 
to be cemented with a marriage, Nsama promising to give one 
of his daughters to Hamees, one of the Arabs, as a wife. She 
came riding pick-aback on a man's shoulders into the village 
where her future lord was for the time, " a nice, modest, good- 
looking young woman, her hair rubbed all over with nkola, a 
red pigment made from the cam-wood, and much used as an 
ornament. She was accompanied by about a dozen young and 
old female attendants, each carrying a small basket with some 
provisions, as cassava, ground-nuts, etc. The Arabs were all 
dressed in their finery, and the slaves, in fantastic dresses, 
flourished swords, fired guns, and yelled. When she 
was brought to Hamees' hut she descended, and with her 
maids went into the hut. She and her attendants all had 
small, neat features. I had been sitting with Hamees, and 
now rose up and went away. As I passed him, he spoke thus to 
himself: * Hamees Wadim Tagh! see to what j^ou have 
brought yourself?'" 

Nsama had been a great conqueror in his time, and with 
bows and arrows as the arms of his enemies, he was invinci- 
ble; but the Arabs had of course been provided with fire- 
arms, and it was to the supremacy of weapons, not of general- 
ship, that he had been obliged to yield so far as to consent to 
a peace. Dr. Livingstone visited his village, Itawa, and found 



Livingstone's last journey. 383 

the people particularly handsome. N^ama was very gracious, 
and promised guides and porters; but showed so much dis- 
trust that the traveler finally decided to go on without the 
proffered assistance. 

Keeping to the north of Nsama's country after this brief 
visit, the party moved westward until it reached the north end 
of Moero. This was Nov. 8; it was the rainy season again, 
and the explorer was obliged to be very careful where he 
traveled, lest he again fall a victim to that fever against which 
he was now defenseless. 

Their next visit of note was to a chief of Lunda, called the 
Casembe. This word, which means simply a general, has been 
applied as a proper name both to the chief and to the village 
where he lives. The Portuguese had used it in the latter 
sense ; and their various observations as to the location of the 
village Casembe did not agree very closely, for the simple 
reason that each Casembe, as he came into office, removed the 
village from its previous site to one Avhich pleased him better. 
The town at the time of Livingstone's visit was situated on the 
east bank of the lakelet Mofwe, and one mile from its north- 
ern end. The plain extending from the Lunde to the town of 
Casembe is level, and studded pretty thickly with red-ant hills, 
from fifteen to twenty feet high. Casembe had made a broad 
path from his town to the Lunde, a distance of about a mile 
and a half. The town consisted of a space a mile square, dot- 
ted over with cassava plantations, in the midst of which were 
the huts. The court or compound of Casembe was surround- 
ed by a hedge of high reeds, ornamented with about sixty 
human skulls. Before the gigantic hut within this enclosure, 
which was Casembe's abode, the chief sat on a square seat 
placed on lion and leopard skins ; he was dressed in a coarse 
blue and white print edged with red baize, arranged in large 
folds "so as to look like a crinoline put on wrong side fore- 
most." His arms, legs, and head were covered with sleeves, 
leggings, and cap made of various colored beads arranged in 
patterns; a crown of yellow feathers surmounted his cap, and 
he considered himself a model of royal magnificence. 

While at this village. Dr. Livingstone was provided with 
food on a liberal scale ; and his presents seemed to be fully 
appreciated. His first gift to the chief consisted of eight yards 
of orange-colored serge, a large striped table-cloth, another 
large cloth, and a large richly gilded comb for the hair, such 
as ladies wore about 1820. As Lunda fashions in coiffure are 
various, this could not fail of being a welcome gift. 



384 



LiyilSrGSTONE S LAST JOURNEY. 



Casembe showed hiiBself very friendly, although the trav- 
eler, remembering the skulls, and noting that many of his 
attendants had their ears cropped or their hands lopped off in 
token of their master's displeasure, could not trust him en- 
tirely. Although the Portuguese had visited this country, it 
is to be noted that Casembe thought there were only two sov- 
ereigns in the world, Queen Victoria and the sultan of Zan- 
zibar. 




A Lunda Toilet. 



As they came down the watershed toward Tanganyika, they 
entered an area of the earth's surface still disturbed by inter- 
nal igneous action. A hot fountain in the country of Nsama, 
they found, was often used to boil cassava and maize. Earth- 
quakes are no rarity in this section of the country, and one 
was experienced which shook their hut, and set the fowls to 
cackling, in the middle of the night. The most remarkable 
effect of this earthquake was, that it changed the rates of the 
chronometers, and stopped one entirely. 

Dr. Livingstone was so affected by the climate that he was 
unable to leave Casembe's town until late in June, 1868, al- 
though he had arrived there in the previous autumn. His de- 



LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEY. 385 

sire was to explore Lake Bangweolo, but the shores of it were 
so marshy, and the intervening country so overflowed during 
the wet season that it was highly imprudent for him to at- 
tempt it. 

It was on the 18th of July, 1868, that Dr. Livingstone dis- 
covered this lake, one of the largest in central Africa. It is 
extraordinary to note the total absence of all pride and en- 
thusiasm as, almost parenthetically, he records the fact in 
these few brief words : 

" Reached the chief village of Mapuni, near the north bank 
of Bangweolo. On the 18th I walked a little way out, and saw 
the shores of the lake for the first time, thankful that I had 
come safely hither." 

His intention to explore the lake was not carried out for a 
week, a strong and unfavorable wind detaining him on 
shore. But his return was much delayed by the condition of 
the country. We have already referred to that contest between 
Nsama and the Arab traders, which was apparently settled by 
the marriage of Hamees to Nsama's daughter. But this alli- 
ance did not accomplish this result; for the lady, hearing 
what seemed to her an indication that her father was to be at- 
tacked by her husband's peo^ole, departed quietly from her 
new home, and was seen no more. The other native chiefs, 
beginning to be alarmed at the encroachments of the Arabs, 
joined forces and attempted to storm the stockade of one of 
their leaders. They suffered a severe defeat in this attempt; 
and the whole country was thrown into turmoil and confusion. 
For several months travel or exploration was impossible ; and 
several times the life of the stranger was in imminent danger. 
During this period, he occupied his time in writing out an ex- 
ceedingly valuable treatise on the subject of the periodical 
floods which drain the enormous cistern-lakes of Central Afri- 
ca. It would manifestly be out of place to transfer that treatise 
to these pages; and the reader who would study the subject ivS 
referred to the work of which the present chapter is substan- 
tially an abridgment — " The Last Journals" of David Living- 
stone in Central Africa. 

At last, a cruel outrage perpetrated by one of the Arabs on 
the natives of Kizinga so exasperated the latter that they de- 
clared war; and although badly defeated in the first instance, 
soon compelled the slave-traders to leave the country. With 
a party of these, led by Mohammed Bagharib, Livingstone 
started to Ujiji on December 11. The march to the nearest 
point on Lake Tanganyika occupied just two months, but was 



386 Livingstone's last journey. 

entirely uneventful, except that just before reaching the lake, 
Livingstone had an attack of pneumonia, accompanied by spit- 
ting of blood and distressing weakness. He had to be carried for 
sixteen days, during part of which time he was insensible, and 
lost count of the days of the week and the month. And this 
was the man who at the start, had been able to outstrip all his 
companions in walking, and was often obliged to loiter on the 
way because the caravan could not keep up with his swift, 
steady pace. 

' He had arranged for a quantity of goods to be sent from 
Zanzibar to Ujiji by one of the caravans trading along this 
route ; and fully expected to find at this point, not only cloth 
and beads for propitiating the natives along his way, but a 
supply of the sorely needed medicines. Unfortunately, the 
goods had been intrusted to a scoundrel, who had helped him- 
self most liberally to them. Sixty-two out of eighty pieces of 
cloth had been stolen, and most of his best beads. Medicines, 
wine, and cheese had been left at Unyanyembe, thirteen days' 
journey east of Ujiji. Nor was the distance the only difficul- 
ty; the way w^as blocked by a Mazitu war, so that he must 
wait at Ujiji until the governor of Unyanyembe should have 
an opportunity of forwarding the goods in safety. 

At Ujiji, however, he found a supply of flannel, which was 
very beneficial worn next to the skin, in his present condition. 
He also received a present of Assam tea from Calcutta, and 
his own supply of coffee and a little sugar had not been stolen. 

The next month was occupied in writing letters home; and 
on the 27th of April he records that he had finished forty-two. 
He had great difficulty in persuading any one to undertake 
to deliver these at Zanzibar; the probability is, that even 
those w^ho w^ere not directly implicated in the theft of his 
goods were afraid that they would be accused of it ; at last, how- 
ever, he found messengers who promised to take them ; and 
to their charge the documents were confided. That is the end 
of the history of the letters then written; for they never 
reached their destination. 

July 12, he set out to explore the Manyuema country, hith- 
erto a country wholly unknown. Securing canoes, he skirted 
the edge of the lake for a short distance, then crossed it, and 
struck along the coast on foot. They passed through Uguha, 
or the country of the Waguha, and came to the territory oc- 
cupied by the Manyuema. 

Late in October, 1869, being thoroughly rested, he deter- 
mined to cross the country to the Lualaba, and buy a canoe 



Livingstone's last journey. 387 

for its exploration. It is scarcely necessary to say that at the 
period of which we write, the course of this river was shroud- 
ed in mystery. Their route was west and south-west, through a 
country of beauty so great that he seems never tired of prais- 
ing it. But they found the people far from friendly. A slave- 
trader had been through there, and had treated the people 
with great severity ; in spite of the difference of color, they 
persisted in looking upon Dr. Livingstone as akin to the Arab. 
Owing to this state of feeling, they found it impossible to buy 
a canoe in which to cross the Luamo, the banks of which they 
reached November 17. Finally the party returned to Bambarre. 

A second trip was begun the day after Christmas, the route 
being slightly altered, so that they struck the Luamo at a high- 
er point than before. Their course from Bambarre for a num- 
ber of days was nearly due north. They found the people civil, 
as a rule, but like noisy children, all talking'and gazing when 
they entered a village. But weakness and sickness delayed 
them, and it was a month and more before they reached the 
Lualaba. 

The incidents of the next few months need not be recorded 
in detail. He made but little progress, and even after reach- 
ing the banks of the Lualaba he turned aside, to visit Arab 
traders who had come for ivory, and with whom he was good 
friends. Under the date of June 26, we have this entry: 

" Now my people failed me; so, with only three attendants, 
Susi, Chuma and Gardner, I started off to the north-west for 
the Lualaba." 

But this was another false start. For the first time in his 
life his feet failed him ; and learning that the Lualaba took a 
great bend to the west-south-west, he gave up the quest, and 
limped back to Bambarre with his three faithful servants. 
Fairly baffled by the difficulties in his way, and sorely troubled 
by the demoralized state of his men, who had been seduced by 
the Arabs to a more lucrative employment, the explorer turn- 
ed back from this point. He was laid up for some time with 
the sores on his feet, which became irritable eating ulcers, so 
painful that sometimes he could not sleep. 

While he was thus rendered helpless, the few men that had 
not deserted him occupied much of their time in hunting. The 
chief game about this point was the soko, a species of the chim- 
panzee which has sometimes been identified with the gorilla; 
but no white scientist has ever seen the soko, and those Afri- 
cans who came to England after the death of Dr. Livingstone 

failed to recognize the gorilla, stuffed, which is in the British 
25 



livixgstoxe's last journey. 389 

Museum, as a soko. Nor do the descriptions of soko-hunts 
lead us to believe that they are the same as that powerful and 
ferocious animal of Western Equatorial Africa, which Du 
Chaillu has described. The soko is represented by some to be 
extremely knowing, successfully stalking men and women 
while at their work, kidnapping children and running up trees 
with them ; he seems to be amilsed by the sight of the young 
natives in his arms, but comes down when tempted by a bunch 
of bananas, and as he lifts that, drops the child. One man was 
cutting honey from a tree, when a soko suddenly appeared and 
caught him, and then let him go. Another man was hunting, 
and missed in his aim when he attempted to stab a soko ; it 
seized the spear and broke it, then grappled with the man, 
who called for help to his companions ; it bit off the ends of 
his fingers and escaped unharmed. Another still was caught 
by a soko while hoeing; he roared out, but the soko giggled 
and grinned, and left him as if it had attacked him in play. A 
child caught up by a soko is often abused by being pinched 
and scratched and let fall. 

His friend Mohammed, the chief of the ivory traders, offer- 
ed to go with him to see the Lualaba; the explorer explained 
that it would not be sufficient for him to see it, he must de- 
scend the stream and see whither it flowed. Mohammed then 
offered to provide him with men ; and this offer was accepted, 
the equivalent of two hundred and seventy pounds sterling be- 
ing paid as amends for the injury to his ivory trade which the 
loss of these men would occasion. 

Eighty days had passed since Dr. Livingstone first knew 
that his feet had failed him, before he was abje to use them 
them again. He Avas, by the journey which he was now begin- 
ning, entering upon the solution of a vexed geographical 
problem. It was a vexed problem, because the assumption of 
a point as true had caused errors which could not be corrected 
as long as this error obtained. This mistake was in identify- 
ing the Chambeze with the Zambesi. The map of Africa which 
Dr. Livingstone carried with him upon this expedition con- 
tained this error; the map-maker showing the river as run- 
ning up-stream, and between three and four thousand feet up- 
hill, in order to reach the Zambesi which Avas known through 
Livingstone's former expedition, as well as by the settlements 
of the Portuguese. 

Uponthis trip, the explorer departed from the course which 
he had previously marked out for himself, to give no Euro- 
pean name to any natural feature ; this rule had been broken 



Livingstone's last journey. 391 

but once before, when he gave to the great cataract of the 
Zambesi the name of Victoria Fails; he now gave English 
names to the lakes which are the head-waters of the Congo — 
Palmerston Fountain, Frere Fountain, and Lake Lincoln, 
thus perpetuating, in the interior of Africa, the names of three 
men who had been, in his own day, most prominent in their 
efforts to suppress slavery. 

But his effort to descend the Lualaba was not without hind- 
rance. Under date of December 10, 1870, he says: 

"I am sorely let and hindered in this Manyeema. Rain 
every day, and often at night. * * * This is the sorest de- 
lay I ever had." 

While detained thus at Bambarre, Dr. Livingstone became 
acquainted with a curious disease — the strangest disease which 
he had seen in that country, he declared. Freemen who were 
taken as slaves died without any assignable cause, the only pain 
which they suffered being in the region of the heart. He re- 
garded their death as due to that much scoff ed-at trouble, a 
broken heart. 

Late in December, the traveler's goat, on which he depend- 
ed for milk, was killed by a leopard. A gun set for the ani- 
mal went off at ten o'clock at night. The next morning, some 
of the attendants of the explorer set off on a hunt, and track- 
ed him to his lair. The ball had broken both hind-legs and one 
fore-leg; yet he sprang viciously upon the foremost of the 
hunters, and bit him badly. Speared by the comrades of the 
man attacked, he proved to be a splendid specimen of his kind, 
being six feet eight inches from tip of nose to end of tail. 

They left Bambarre February 16, but progressed very slowly. 
Their way lay across a great bend of the Lualaba, and they 
traveled on foot. After a journey lasting about six weeks, 
they came once more to the bank of the Lualaba, a mighty 
stream, at least three thousand yards broad, and so deep that 
the people living near by declared it could never, at any time 
of the year, be forded. The current, he found to be about two 
miles an hour. 

But having reached the banks of this mighty river, the trav- 
eler found that he could go no farther, for the present at least; 
the suspicions of the natives prevented him from obtaining 
canoes either for descending or for crossing it. Here he re- 
mained from March 31 until July 20, hoping day by day to be 
able to obtain canoes; getting bits of uncertain information 
now and then from the people about the rivers of the sur- 
rounding country, and striving to teach those with whom he 



Livingstone's last journey. 393 

came in contact. Finally, there was a terrible fight at this 
point, which was a market-place for the whole surrounding 
country. A quarrel between the natives and a slave of the 
iv^ory-traders who had come hither w^as taken up by all inter- 
ested, and between three and four hundred persons killed. 
Livingstone, powerless to prevent the slaughter, could only 
look on at the affrighted people struggling in the river into 
which they had plunged .for safety, and, when the fight was 
over, intercede for those who had fled to him for safety. So 
far had the people been carried by their anger, that after it 
was all over, no one could give a connected account of the 
reasons for the fight. They had seen their friends fighting, 
and had joined in. 

• On July 20, he started back to Ujiji; but the journey back 
was different from anything that this old traveler had yet ex- 
perienced. The ivory-traders had passed through this coun- 
try, and maltreated the natives to such an extent that the 
whole country was aroused; and Dr. Livingstone being con- 
stantly taken for an Arab, was in perpetual danger of his life. 
Three times in one day (August 8) was he delivered from im- 
pending death. 

In passing along the narrow path, with a dense wall of vege- 
tation touching either hand, the party came to a point where 
an ambush had been placed, and trees cut down to obstruct 
their passage while the assailants speared them ; but for some 
reason it had been abandoned. Nothing could be detected; 
but by stooping down toward the earth and looking up toward 
the sun, a dark shade could sometimes be seen; this was an 
infuriated savage, and a slight rustle in the dense vegetation 
meant a spear. A large spear from Livingstone's right lunged 
past, and, almost grazing his back, stuck firmly in the soil. 
The two men from whom it came appeared in an opening in 
the forest only ten yards off, and bolted, one looking back 
over his shoulder as he ran. As they are expert Avith the spear, 
the traveler could only account for its missing by supposing 
that the man had been too sure of his aim, and by attributing 
his safety to the protecting care of his Father. 

Shortly after this, another spear was hurled at him, missing 
him by about a foot in front. Guns were fired into the thick 
forest, but with no effect, for nothing could be seen ; but they 
heard the savages jeering and denouncing them close by. 
Two of Livingstone's men were killed by them. 

The third danger was not from concealed spearmen. Com- 
ing to a part of the forest cleared for cultivation, the explorer 



395 

noticed a giant tree, made to appear still taller by growing out 
of an ant-hill twenty feet high ; it had fire applied near its roots. 

Dr. Livingstone heard a crack, which told that the fire had 
done its work in felling the tree ; but he felt no alarm until 
he saw the mass of wood sway and then descend directly to- 
ward him. He ran a few paces back, and down it came to the 
ground within a yard of where he paused ; breaking into sev- 
eral lengths, it covered him with a cloud of dust. Had the 
branches not been rotted off previously, he could scarcely 
have escaped. 

His attendants, who had been scattered in all directions, re- 
garded this as a good omen, taken in connection with his oth- 
er escapes that day, and came running toward him, crying out: 

"Peace! Peace! You will finish all your work in spite of 
these people, and in spite of everything!" 

Reaching Ujiji October 23, he found that all his goods had 
been sold by an Arab, Shereef, to his friends, at nominal 
prices. In spite of the protests of other traders, more than 
three thousand yards of calico and seven hundred pounds of 
beads had been thus sacrificed. Shereef had the assurance, 
however, even after this was fully made known to Dr. Living- 
stone, to come to shake hands with him; and when the long- 
suffering traveler rebelled against such behavior at last, and 
refused to do so, the Arab assumed an air of displeasure, as if 
he had been badly treated. He afterward came twice a day 
with his salutation of " Balghere (good luck) !" until Living- 
stone told him that if ho were an Arab, his (Shereef 's) hand 
and both ears would be cut off for thieving; and the traveler 
wanted no salutations from him. 

He was now utterly destitute, and with no prospect of fur- 
ther supplies for months to come ; for letters must be dis- 
patched to the coast before such would be sent to him ; and how 
to pay the bearers of such letters, except in promises, he could 
not tell. He had made up his mind, if he could not get peo- 
ple at Ujiji, to wait until men should come from the coast; 
but to w^ait in beggary, was what he had never contemplated ; 
and he " now felt miserable." 

The few simple words are significant enough, if we consider 
the patience of the man. Livingstone's journals are unlike 
those of every other African traveler in the brevity and lack of 
enthusiasm with which the events are chronicled ; the cold and 
undemonstrative nature of the Scotchman shows itself most 
plainly in this way; and especially in respect to his own suffer- 
ings. But in this case, we must remember that it is something 



396 Livingstone's last journey. 

more than natural reluctance to enlarge upon his feelings ; it 
is even more than the manly reticence regarding personal phys- 
ical pain, which is shown by the great majority of the explor- 
ers; it is the patience of the Christian, who sees in all the 
suffering and trouble which come upon him, the trial which is 
to fit him for his Master's purpose. 

Just as his spirits had reached their lowest ebb, the dawn 
began to break; an Arab merchant, who said that he himself 
had no goods, offered to sell some ivory, and give the goods so 
obtained to the stranger. This was encouraging; but Living- 
stone felt that he was not yet at the point of accepting such an 
offer. 

" Not yet, but by and by," he said to the Arab. 

He had still a very few goods for barter remaining, goods which 
had been left in the care of another Arab than the one who 
had stolen his new stock, which he had deposited before go- 
ing to Mnnyuema, in case of returning in extreme need. These 
he was now resolved to use, to get to the coast a letter, if pos- 
sible. He had been full two years without any tidings from 
Europe whatever; he had sent dispatches during that time, 
but as we have seen, they had not reached the coast. 

Such were the circumstances surrounding this great explorer 
when his servants brought him word that an Englishman was 
approaching the town. Susi came running to his master at the 
top of his speed, and in great excitement. He breathlessly 
gasped out : 

" An Englishman ! I see him!" 

In an instant he was off. Dr. Livingstone followed him to 
the door, and saw the caravan approaching the town. Bales, 
of goods, a tin bath, huge kettles, cooking-pots, tents, and all 
the paraphernalia of a well-equipped traveler through a coun- 
try where few or no conveniences were to be expected, struck 
him with a sense of the difference between himself and the ap- 
proaching stranger. 

" This must be a luxurious traveler," he told himself, " and 
not one at his wit's end like me." 

The first glance at the caravan had showed him that Sasi 
had been mistaken in one particular — this was not an English- 
man, for at the head of the caravan floated the flag of England's 
eldest daughter, the United States. The stranger was Henry 
M. Stanley. 

Of the meeting, we need not here give details. Overwhelm- 
ed as Livingstone was by surprise at the coming of this man, 
sent by a stranger through the heart of Africa especially to 



Livingstone's last journey. 397 

find him if alive, and to bring back his bones if he were dead, 
we could hardly expect that his narrative of the meeting would 
be clear and succinct; he was too bewildered, probably, in 
spite of his Scotch coolness of head, to remember just what 
took place. Little by little the whole wonderful story came 
home to him, and he realized that he was once again in com- 
munication with the outer world. And with this realization, 
came renewed vigor; he was no longer the broken-down old 
man, spiritless, bitterly disappointed at the failure to reach 
the points which he had endeavored to attain, heart-sick at the 
duplicity which had left him well-nigh without resources in the 
heart of this great continent; a new life seemed to fill his 
veins, and emotions that had lain dormant in Manyuema re- 
vived at the tidings that he had to tell. But while struggling 
to express the flood o^ feeling which so nearly overwhelmed 
him, these are the words he uses : 

" I really do feel extremely grateful, and at the same time I 
am a little ashamed at not being more worthy of the generos- 
ity." 

Mr. Stanley brought news that Sir Roderick Murchison most 
earnestly desired that Lake Tanganyika should be fully ex- 
plored, and accordingly, after a little more than two weeks 
spent at Ujiji, the whole party set out for the north of the. 
lake. The start was made November 16, but a cruise to the 
head of the lake failed to reveal any passage into the Nyanza, 
or any stream flowing out of Tanganyika; the natives appear- 
ed to know nothing of any large lake to the north, and they 
returned to Ujiji a month after they had left it. 

Directly after their return, they made ready for a journey to- 
wards the east to secure Dr. Livingstone's goods, the English 
government having granted one thousand pounds for supplies 
for the explorer, in addition to the assistance which Mr. Ben- 
nett had commissioned Stanley to bring. Owing to the illness 
of the younger traveler, however, they did not leave Ujiji until 
two days after Christmas. The same cause which had detain- 
ed them at Ujiji delayed their journey somewhat after they had 
started; and during one stage, Mr. Stanley had to be carried 
on a cot. After a march of fifty-four days, they reached Un- 
yanyembe, over three hundred miles away. 

Mr. Stanley was extremely anxious to have Dr. Livingstone 
return to England with him, to recruit his strength; but the 
old explorer was by no means ready to do so. His own judg- 
ment told him : 

" All your friends will wish you to make a complete work of 



398 Livingstone's last journey. 

the exploration of the sources of the Nile before you retire.'* 

His daughter Agnes had written : 

*' Much as I wish you to come home, I would rather that you 
finished your work to your own satisfaction than return merely 
to gratify me." 

In spite of the persuasions of his newly found friend, then, 
he resolved to remain until this work should be accomplished. 
Probably, in the enthusiasm which had been re-awakened in 
his breast, and the return of a measure of good health, he did 
not realize what inroads upon his constitution had been made 
by the fever from which he had suffered so much after the 
theft of his medicines. Feeling so much better, he fancied 
himself a strong man again. 

They remained at Unyanymebe until the 14th of March, Dr. 
Livingstone preparing dispatches and letters for the outer 
world to which his companion was so shortly to return. On the 
date mentioned, they separated; communication between 
them was kept up for some time ; and it was arranged that Mr. 
Stanley was to procure men for Dr. Livingstone in Zanzibar, 
and send them forward to Unyanyembe, where he was to await 
them. The time thus spent in waiting was utilized by com- 
pleting many calculations which lack of time had caused him 
to leave unfinished, and by planning his work for the future. 
Briefly stated, it was his intention to allow the remainder of 
the year 1872 (at that time, £.ve months,) for the journey to 
his new field of exploration; devote the whole of 1873 to his 
work, and return in 1874 to home and a well-earned repose. 
It was the middle of August before the caravan of porters 
arrived at Unyanyembe. They numbered fifty-seven. Be- 
sides these new men, of whom John and Jacob Wainwright 
are to be remembered. Dr. Livingstone had ^ve old servants 
with him — Susi, Chuma and Amoda, who had been employed 
by him during the Zambesi expedition, and Mabruki and Gard- 
ner, two of the Nassick boys who had left Zanzibar with his 
caravan at the beginning of the present journey. 

Leaving a sufficient quantity of goods with Sultan bin Ali to 
secure their return journey from Unyanyembe to the coast, the 
caravan set out August 23. A week later, the two Nassicks 
had, "from sheer laziness," allowed all the cows to stray; 
they were found a long way off, but one was missing, and was 
never recovered. One cow, their best milker, had been lost 
three days after starting. Two of the pagazi, engaged at a 
village on their road, deserted, taking with them a quantity of 
calico belonging to the men. Thus the story goes on. 



Livingstone's last journey. 399 



tlcrvvv ^l^u.'VtO' 'h^^'^xJk. V^uA' 



Autograph Fac-Simile Letter from Dr. Livingstone. 

The latter half of September, they were much delayed by 
sickness, both of the leader and of his followers. They came 
in sight of Tanganyika October 8, and slowly approached the 



li\5ingstoxe's last jourxey. 401 

lake from which so short a distance seemed to divide them. 
Their course was nearly due south to Fipa, as that was the 
town to which their steps were now directed; they had been 
many times assured in Unyanyembe that the route to this 
point was much shorter and less difficult than that to Ujiji. 

From this point they skirted the shores of the lake; and 
early in November came within sight of the Luazi. For some 
time past, Livingstone had been tormented by doubts about 
the Lualaba; he was in search of the ultimate sources of the 
Nile, not considering that the discovery of the two Nyanzas 
had settled this vexed question ; what if, after all, the Lualaba 
should prove to be a tributary of the Congo? The question 
occurs more than once in his journal, even before the meeting 
with Stanley, showing that the idea Avas gaining hold upon his 
mind. Still, he pressed on, resolved to find out for himself 
what was the destination of this great river. 

The journey now turned toward the southwest, for he wish- 
ed to visit Lake Bangweolo again, and ascertain what connec- 
tion it might have with a great river-system. The journey was 
without special incident; there Avas the same old story of 
natives angered by the outrageous treatment of Arab traders, 
and consequently jealous of ail strangers; of efforts to get 
food, sometimes unavailing because of this jealousy; of sick- 
ness of the men ; and finally, here and there we find the simple 
word "ill" among the entries in his journal, coupled some- 
times with a statement of the length of time during which his 
illness had continued. Occasionally, the feeble writing testi- 
fies more plainly than words that his strength was failing. 

February 13, they arrived within sight of Lake Bangweolo ; 
the plain surrounding the lake was under water, and it was 
necessary to obtain canoes to make their way along the shore 
of the enlarged lake. Halting at the village of a chief named 
Matipa, they entered into negotiations for these vessels. 
Matipa showed himself at first very friendly, but on one pre- 
text or another, put off the arrival of the canoes in a sufficient 
number to serve their purpose. At last, they found that he 
vvas deliberately acting treacherously; Dr. Livingstone then 
took possession of Matipa's own hut, fired his pistol through 
the roof, and left ten men to guard the village. Matipa fled 
to another village, while his people sent off and brought a 
number of canoes, so that Livingstone's men were enabled to 
embark at once. Later intercourse showed that Matipa was 
thoroughly frightened by the warlike demonstration, and be- 
came once more very friendly. 



Livingstone's last journey. 403 

An entry under date of March 24 will give some idea of the 
hardships endured at this time, when the end was so rapidly 
aj)proaching: 

'* We punted six hours to a little islet without a tree, and no 
sooner did we land than a pitiless, pelting rain came on. We 
turned up a canoe to get shelter. We shall reach the Cham- 
beze to-morrow. The wind tore the tent out of our hands, 
and damaged it, too; the loads are all soaked, and with the 
cold, it is bitterly uncomfortable. A man put my bed into 
the bilge, and never said 'Bale out,' so I was safe for a wet 
night, but it turned out better than I expected. No grass, 
but we made a bed of the loads, and a blanket fortunately put 
into a bag." 

It is interesting, in this portion of his journal, to note what 
care Susi and Chuma took of their master. He does not seem 
to realize it himself, yet from his own record we see that, day 
by day, their watchfulness over him was increasing, as they saw 
his strength diminishing. It was on this journey that, for the 
first time, he was unable to wade the streams which they 
crossed on foot; and all the way to Bangweolo, wherever they 
came to a sponge or a river, Chuma carried his master on his 
strong and willing shoulders, even though the main stream 
came up to Susi's mouth as they waded along. 

The voyage over this overflowed land was far from easysail- 
ing. On the 7th of April, he records that they were lost for 
five hours on the grassy prairies, which were covered with 
from three to five feet of water. The next morning they ob- 
tained guides from a village within hearing, who caused them 
to take their large canoe along a course where the water was 
sometimes but fifteen inches deep ; and although the men put 
all their strength to her, she stopped at every haul with a jerk, 
as if in a bank of adhesive plaster. 

But exertion and exposure had further weakened him; and 
a few days later we find the entry that he was so weak he could 
hardly walk, but tottered along nearly two hours, and then lay 
down quite done over. At this resting-place, he made coffee — 
the last of his stock — and tried to go on again; but in an 
hour's time was compelled to give it up. Even then, he was 
very unwilling to be carried, but, " on being pressed," allowed 
the men to help him on by relays to Chinama, a highly culti- 
vated region. 

From this point forward we cease to refer to his journals, 
giving a fac-simile of the two last pages; and carrying the 
story forward by means of the narration of his two faithful 
26 



404 Livingstone's last jouknet. 



^ -i^ cJ2-^-^ ^^^-H^ L^w^Cb 



Autograph Fac-Simile from Livingstone's- Last Journal, 

servants. April 21, he tried to ride the donkey, but was so 
weak that he fell to the ground utterly exhausted and faint. 



Livingstone's last journey. 405 






1 



"^ ^ oiX.^^^ c^, cAy/y^ 






Autograph Fac-Simile from Livingstone^ s Last Journal. 

Chuma carried him back to the village which they had just left, 
and placed him in his hut. The next day,^ they contrived a 




Aiii'iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiM 



Livingstone's last journet. 407 

sort of litter, known to the natives as a kitanda, a framework 
covered with grass, and having a blanket laid upon it. On 
this he was placed, while Chuma walked by his side, to steady 
the sick man when the bearers stopped; for he was so weak 
that he could not otherwise have kept from falling off. 

They arrived at the village of Kalunganjova, on the banks 
of the Molilamo, April 27. From this point, they sent out to 
buy food. The effort was unsuccessful, for the Mazitu had 
made raids through that country, and taken everything. The 
chief, nevertheless, made them a substantial present of a kid 
and three baskets of ground-nuts ; and those who had food 
were quite willing to sell it for beads. The chief visited Dr. 
Livingstone on the morning of the 29th, and assured him that 
he would personally accompany the caravan to the crossing- 
place of the river, in order to be sure that canoes were furnish- 
ed as he wished them to be. • 

But when they were ready to set out. Dr. Livingstone was 
too weak to walk from his bed in the hut to the kitanda at the 
door. It was therefore necessary, because the door was so 
narrow, to break down one of the frail walls of the hut; 
through the breach thus made, the bearers brought the litter 
close to the sick man's bed, and he was carefully lifted 
upon it. 

AVith almost incredible gentleness, when we remember that 
only love had taught them how to deal with the sick, these 
men, who had until the last few years been rude and untaught 
savages, lifted him from the kitanda into the canoe, and again 
into the litter when they had crossed the river ;^ for the canoe 
was not wide enough to admit the kitanda with the sick man 
upon it. Susi hurried on ahead of the caravan, that a hut 
might be built at Chitambo's village, which was their present 
destination, by the time that his master arrived. 

The natives stood in silent wonder as he was helped from 
his litter into the hut, for his praises had reached them long 
ago. This was the " good man," as he was emphatically called 
by the tribes that knew him best; and they watched him till 
he was lost to their view inside the hut. 

The next day, the chief paid a visit of ceremony to his 
guest; but Dr. Livingstone was obliged, after an effort to talk 
to him, to send him away, telling him to come again the next 
day, when he hoped to have more strength. The day wore 
on, and night came; some of the men took to their huts; it 
was the duty of others to keep watch. The boy who was ap- 
pointed to sleep just within his master's hut, summoned Susi 



408 LIVlIfGSTONE^S LAST JOURNEr. 

about eleven o'clock; Livingstone asked a few questions, first 
about noises that he heard outside, and then about distances, 
the latter showing that his mind was wandering. An hour 
later, the man was again summoned, and attended to his 
master's wants, getting the medicine which was required. 

"All right; you can go out now," said the Avhite man. 

The hours passed on; it was not yet dawn when the boy 
came to Susi again, this time in fright: 

"Come to Bwana; I am afraid; I don't know if he is 
alive." 

Susi ealled his immediate companions, and six men went to 
the doctor's hut. A candle, stuck by its own wax to a box, 
was burning at the head of the rude bed ; the light showed their 
master's form, kneeling by the side of the bed, his head buried 
in his hands upon the pillow. He gave no sign of hearing 
them; one^of them gently touched his cheek; it was quite 
cold; at some time between midnight and dawn, of the 1st of 
May, 1873, David Livingstone had knelt in prayer, and died 
upon his knees. 

They laid him reverently upon his couch, and went out to 
consult as to what should be done. As they went out, the 
cocks crew, fixing the hour as that of dawn. Bei|)re daylight 
the men were quietly told in each hut that they were to assem- 
ble because their master was dead. They knew that Jacob 
Wainwright could write, and Chuma'and Susi asked him to 
make a list of the things that they should find in the boxes, 
and, all being present when these boxes were opened, all would 
be responsible if any money or valuables should be missing 
when they arrived at the coast. What difficulties were to at- 
tend them in their proposed journey, only God could know; 
but they bravely faced them all, and resolved to take their 
master's body back to his friends. Chuma and Susi were 
chosen captains of the caravan, and all promised to obey them 
as their chiefs. 

Finding it impossible lo keep the secret from Chitambo, 
whose superstition they had dreaded, they were agreeably sur- 
prised when the chief made no objections to their preparing 
the body by a rude sort of embalming and taking it to Zanzi- 
bar. The burial service of the English church was read by 
Jacob Wainwright, and for fourteen days this process of pre- 
paring the body continued. Then, they wrapped it in muslin, 
and stripping from a myonga tree a large piece of bark, made 
a cylinder of it, in which the body was placed, and which was 
covered with a piece of sail-cloth and lashed securely to a pole, 



ilVlNGSTONE^S LAST JOURJ^EY. 



409 



go as to be carried by two men. Jacob AYainwright, at the re- 
quest of Susi and Chuma, who seem to have forgotten noth- 
ing, carved an inscription on a large mvula tree which stood 
near the hut where the body rested; they also erected two 
high, thick posts, with a heavy cross-piece, like a lintel and 
door-posts in form, w^hich they painted thoroughly with tar. 




Susi and Chuma. 



The homeward march was then begun; but they were so 
affected by the hardships which they had previously under- 
gone, that on the third day after setting out they were obliged 



410 



LIVINGSTONE ^S LAST JOURNEY. 



to halt; half their number were positively unable to go on. 
It was nearly three weeks before they were able to proceed. 
Then, fortunately, the rains were over, so that there was less 
danger of sickness. 

With the events of this journey, we have nothing to do, so 
far as they relate to the adventures of the men themselves. 
It was weeks after their starting that they learned from an 
Arab caravan that the news of their master's death had already 
been reported in Unyanyembe. 




Livingstone's Bodij Carried to the Coast. 

A second caravan assured them that this news was true, and 
that Dr. Livingstone's son, with two other Englishmen and a 
quantity of goods, was at Unyanyembe. Arrived at Baula, 



Livingstone's last journey. 411 






a^t^^f^ Y^^jf^^ ^/ "^^ 



'tei 



Autograph Fac-Simile of Wainwrighfs Letter Announcing 
Death of Livingstone. 

Jacob Wainwright was commissioned to write au account of 
the doctor's death, and Chuma, taking three men with him, 
pressed on in advance to deliver it to the English party. Arriv- 



41^ IIVINGSTONE^S LAST JOURKEf. 

ing at Unyanyembe, he found that the report of Mr. Oswell 
Livingstone's being one of the party was erroneous; but his 
letter was delivered and his story told to the chief of the Liv- 
ingstone Search Expedition, Lieut. Cameron. 

It was this officer's idea that perhaps Dr. Livingstone would 
have wished to be buried in Africa, since there his wife's re- 
mains lay; but the faithful servants who had brought his body 
so far in order that it might be taken to his own country 
thought that it was right, at all risks, to attempt to bear their 
master home; and he did not press them to bury him at 
Kwihara, whither the Search Expedition had come from 
Unyanyembe to met them. 

But the natives showed themselves hostile because they had 
with them a corpse; their superstition could not permit them 
to allow such men a free passage through the country. It was 
therefore necessary to resort to stratagem. Some distance be- 
yond Unyanyembe, when they finally decided that it was im- 
possible to advance any farther with the body carried as it had 
been, they made a fagot of mapira-stalks of such shape and 
size as to simulate a dead body when properly covered; and 
sent six men with this toward Unyanyembe, letting it be known 
that they had given up the original plan,, and had sent their 
master's body back to be buried there. The body was then 
transferred to another package, which, when made up, could 
not be told from one of the ordinary traveling bales. The six 
messengers held on their way until fairly past all chance of 
detection, and then began to dispose of their load. The fagot 
was undone, and the sticks scattered by being thrown one by 
one far away into the jungle; the wrappings were got rid of 
in the same way. They then went on some little distance 
farther, and first one, then another, leaped from the path 
into the long grass, so as to leave no clear trace of where the 
party had left the path, and no trace at all that they had 
turned back. They made their way to their comrades again 
by different routes ; and the natives never suspected that they 
had not gone on to LTnyanyembe with the body of their 
master. 

Thus at last the sea was reached ; and their precious burden 
consigned to the care of the acting British consul. Captain 
Prideaux. Arrangements were quickly made for transporting 
the remains of Dr. Livingstone to the island of Zanzibar, 
whence they were taken to England and interred in West- 
minster Abbey. 

Just one year before the day that he died, the record in his 



LIVINGSTONE *S LAST JOURNEY. 413 

journal shows that he had finished a letter to the New York 
Herald, trying to enlist American zeal to stop the east-coast 
slave-trade. The concluding words of this letter were as fol- 
lows: 

*'A11 I can add, in my loneliness, is, may Heaven's rich 
blessing come down on every one, American, English, or Turk, 
who will help to heal the open sore of the world." 

It was felt that nothing could better represent the man, and 
these words have consequently been inscribed on the tablet 
at his grave in Westminster. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



HOW STAJYLEY FO UJVD LIVIJVGSTOJyJE. 
N the year 1840, there was born, near the town of Denbigh, 
in Wales, a boy, who was named after his father and 
grandfather, John RoUand, or Rowlands, as the name is 
sometimes anglicized. His father died when he was but two 
years old ; his mother married again, not many years afterward. 
He was for several years a pupil at the poor-house of St. Asaph, 
where he procured the best education that that institution of 
learning could afford. Leaving this, he was employed for a year 
as a teacher at Mold, in Flintshire; but finding this quiet life 
very little to his taste, he made his way to Liverpool, and there 
shipped as cabin-boy in a vessel bound for New Orleans. 
There, while looking for employment, he came into contact 
with a wealthy, childless merchant named Stanley. This gen- 
tleman liked the boy so well that he employed him about vari- 
ous parts of his extensive business, promoting him rapidly; 
and finally adopted him as his own son, promising to provide 
liberally for him. 

But the youth had a restless spirit, and could not be pre- 
vailed upon to settle down and enjoy the good things of this 
life unless a great deal of the spice of variety could be added 
to them. He wandered away into the wildest parts of Arkan- 
sas; thence he made his way overland to California, making 
friends with many of the Indians on the way, and sitting 
gravely by their council fires when it so pleased him to do. At 
last, he returned to New Orleans. His adopted father had 
given him up as dead, and welcomed him as one who had come 
back from beyond the grave. 

The trial of thus losing his adopted son, as he thought that he 
had, had been a severe one to Mr. Stanley; but he was not des- 
tined to suffer again from the young man's roving disposition. 
Shortly after his return, the elder Stanley (for of course his 

414 



HOW STANI.EY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 415 

adopted son had assumed his name) died suddenly; investiga- 
tion showed that he had left no will; and the angry relatives 
whom young Kollant-Stanley was to have supplanted as the 
heir, inherited all his fortune. The young man was turned 
adrift, receiving from the affectionate adopted father nothing 
but the name of Henry Moreland Stanley. 

Very shortly afterward, the war between the States broke 
out; and young Stanley, being in New Orleans, and surround- 
ed by Confederate influences, enlisted in the Southern army. 
After various adventures and some hair-breadth escapes, he 
was captured by the enemy, and held as a prisoner of war. 
The case was a hopeless one; there was no chance of regain- 
ing his late comrades; and the soldier promptly took the oath 
of allegiance to the United States and enlisted in the United 
States navy. It would seem that he had none of the qualities 
which would recommend him for promotion on board of a man- 
of-war where the discipline was peculiarly rigid, as it was on 
the iron-clad Ticonderoga; but in a few months' time we find 
him acting ensign. 

After the war was over, his ship was sent to the Mediter- 
ranean. Here he obtained leave, and, with two of his com- 
rades, started on a pedestrian tour of a part of Syria. They were 
attacked by Turkish brigands, and only with great diflliculty 
were they able to make their way back to Constantinople, 
there to appeal to the American minister for assistance and re- 
dress. But for the excellent generalship of Stanley, they 
would never have reached the Turkish capital. 

It is a little doubtful whether this adventure occurred be- 
fore or after he had left the United States service ; although 
the probabilities are that it was previous to doffing his uniform. 
Whatever the truth may be in the case, he left the navy about 
this time, and before he revisited his native place, a very few 
months after his Turkish adventure. 

Returning to America, he was employed as special corres- 
pondent of the New York Herald, and given a roving com- 
mission. His duties first took him to Abyssinia, where the 
British were then waging war against King Theodore. It is, 
(or was) an article of firm belief in England that the govern- 
ment receives the earliest news from the seat of war, and 
gives out the information to the newspapers ; and that news- 
paper correspondents are simply to fill up the outlines thus 
kindly furnished by the authorities. iMr. Stanley somewhat 
astonished the people of the War Department by providing 
the London newspapers with information which had not then 



416 HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 

reached the office of the Minister. It was one evidence of the 
energy which was derived in part from Mother Nature, and in 
part learned from the people of his adopted country. 

The war over, he returned to the United States, and was at- 
tached, still in the capacity of special correspondent of the 
Herald^ to the Indian Commission of 1867. In 1868-9, we 
find him in Spain, following the fortunes of the royal forces 
and those of the republicans, Jis the latter strove to dethrone 
Isabella II. While he was portraying the situation for the 
benefit of the readers of the Herald, he received, October 16, 
1869, a dispatch from Paris. It ran thus : 

"Come to Paris on important business," 
and was signed by James Gordon Bennett, Jr. , the manager 
of the New York ^era?c?. The telegram reached him at ten 
A. M. ; he at once proceeded to make ready; his pictures and 
books were packed in a hurry; his laundress was not given 
time to finish drying his clothes ; by noon he was ready, having 
only to say good-bye to his friends. 

At three in the afternoon, that being the hour at which the 
first express left Madrid after the receipt of the telegram, he 
T^as on his way, arriving in Paris the following night. He 
went straight to the Grand Hotel, and knocked at the door of 
Mr. Bennett's room. 

A voice bade him enter; he found Mr. Bennett in bed. 

"Who are you?" was the first question. 

"My name is Stanley," was the reply. 

"Ah, yes, sit down; I have important business for you." 

Throwing over his shoulders his robe de chambre, Mr. Ben- 
nett asked : 

"Where do you think Livingstone is?" 

"I really do not know, sir," rejoined the subordinate, rather 
taken aback (if Stanley ever was taken aback) at the sudden- 
ness of the question. 

"Do you think he is alive?" 

"He may be, and he may not be." 

"Well, I think he is alive, and that he can be found, and I 
am going to send you to find him." 

"What!" ejaculated Stanley; "do you really think that I 
can find Dr. Livingstone? Do you mean me to go to Central 
Africa?" 

"Yes, I mean that you shall go and find him wherever you 
may hear that he is, and to get what news you can of him; 
and perhaps" — delivering himself thoughtfully and deliber- 
ately — "the old man may be in want; take enough with you to 



HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 



417 



help him, should he require it. Of course you will act accord- 
ing to your own plans, and do what you think best — ^but FIND 
LIVINGSTONE." 

The subordinate wondered at the cool order of sending one 
to Central Africa to search for a man whom most men believ- 
ed to be dead ; and asked : 




James Gordon Bennett. 

*' Have you considered seriously the great expense you are 
likely to incur on account of this little journey?" 

*' What will it cost?" asked the chief, abruptly. 

''Burton and Speke's journey to Central Africa cost between 
three thousand and five thousand pounds, and I fear it cannot 
be done under two thousand five hundred pounds." 



418 HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 

"Well, I will tell you what you will do. Draw a thousand 
pounds now ; and when you have gone through that, draw an- 
other thousand, and when that is spent, draw another thous- 
and ; and when you have finished that, draw another thousand, 
and so on; but, FIND LIVINGSTONE." 

He was not to go directly to Africa ; or at least not to the 
part where he might expect to find Livingstone. He was to 
go first to the inauguration of the Suez Canal ; then proceed 
up the Nile, find out what he could about Baker's expedition 
under the authority of the Khedive (the celebrated English- 
man was then just starting for Upper Egypt), write up a prac- 
tical guide for Lower Egypt, go on to Jerusalem, visit Con- 
stantinople, the Crimea and its battle-grounds, cross the Cau- 
casus to the Caspian Sea, write up Persepolis and Bagdad, get 
to India by a journey across Persia, and thence start to Zanzi- 
bar, if news of Livingstone had not been received in the mean- 
time. Having mapped out this little program, Mr. Bennett 
told him that this was all, and bade him good-night. 

He followed out his instructions to the letter, arriving in 
India in August, 1870; on October 12, he sailed frgm Bombay 
to Mauritius, the journey occupying thirty-seven days; and 
at last arrived at Zanzibar, January 6, 1871. Here he was 
well received by the United States consul. Captain Webb; and 
had the good fortune, as he then esteemed it, to meet with 
Dr. Kirk, the coadjutor of Dr. Livingstone during the Zam- 
besi expedition. 

Naturally enough, the conversation turned upon the subject 
of African exploration; and Mr. Stanley, whose plans had not 
yet been made public, asked, with apparent carelessness: 

"Ah, yes. Dr. Kirk, about Livingstone — where is he, do you 
think, now?" 

*'Well, really, you know," was the answer, "that is very 
difficult to answer ; he may be dead ; there is nothing positive 
whereon we can base sufficient reliance. Of one thing I am 
sure, nobody has heard anything definite from him for over 
two years. I should fancy, though, that he must be alive. 
We are continually sending something up for him. There is 
a small expedition now at Bagamoyo about starting shortly. 
I really think the old man should come home now ; he is grow- 
ing old, you know, and if he died, the world would lose the 
benefit of his discoveries. He keeps neither notes nor jour- 
nals; it is very seldom he takes observations. He simply 
makes a note, or dot, or something on a map, which nobody 
could understand but himself. Oh, yes, by all means, if he is 



HOW STAISTLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 



419 




alive he should come home, and let a younger man take his 
place." 

"What kind of a man is he to get along with, Doctor?" 
asked the deeply interested listener. 

27 



420 HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 

"Well, I think he is a very difficult man to deal with, gen- 
erally. Personally, I have never had a quarrel with him ; but 
I have seen him in hot water with fellows so often, and that is 
principally the reason, I think, that he hates to have any one 
with him." 

*'I am told that he is a very modest man; is he?" again 
queried the Herald attache, anxious not to change the sub- 
ject. 

*'0h, he knows the value of his own discoveries; no man 
better. He is not quite an angel," was the reply, with a 
laugh. 

"Well, now," persisted Stanley, "supposing I met him in 
my travels — I might possibly stumble across him if he travels 
anywhere in the direction I am going — how would he conduct 
himself toward me?" 

"To tell you the truth," answered Livingstone's former com- 
panion, " I do not think he would like it very well. I know if 
Burton, or Grant, or Baker, or any of those fellows were going 
after him, and he heard of their coming, Livingstone would 
put a hundred miles of swamp in a very short time between 
himself and them. I do, upon my word I do." 

This was not very encouraging; and so the embryo explorer 
felt it; his ardor was rather damped by the interview with 
Livingstone's old companion; but there was no going back 
without a positive disobedience of orders, and that was what 
he had no notion of doing. Dr. Kirk, still in ignorance of 
Stanley's actual object, promised to afford him every assist- 
ance in his power; this, unfortunately, was nil. 

Of course the presence of a correspondent of the New York 
^eraM in Africa must have some reason assigned ; and Mr. 
Stanley gave out that he had come to explore the Eufiji Eiver 
to its source. The great American public and all the other 
readers of the Herald were supposed to be burning with curi- 
osity to know whence the Ruiiji flowed; perhaps some of them 
would not have been able to tell on what continent it could be 
found; but Mr. Stanley said nothing of this little circum- 
stance. 

Many questions now occurred to the traveler, which he had 
no means of answering. They were such a« these: How 
much money is required? How many pagazis, or carriers? 
How many soldiers, free black men, natives of Zanzibar, or 
freed slaves from the interior? How much cloth? How 
many beads? How niuch wire? What kinds of cloth are re- 
quired for the different tribes? He studied the volumes of 



HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 421 

African travels at his command, chiefly Burton, Speke, and 
Baker; but information such as he sought was not to be found 
in them. Even the hints in Baker's "Ismailia" were not avail- 
able, for the materials for that volume had not yet been col- 
lected; and Baker does not answer there such questions as 
these. 

He decided it was best to hunt up an Arab merchant who 
had been engaged in the ivory trade, or who was fresh from 
the interior. Sheikh Hashid was a man of note and wealth in 
Zanzibar. He had himself dispatched several caravans into 
the interior, and was necessarily acquainted with several 
prominent traders who came to his house to gossip about their 
adventures and gains. Of all men Sheikh Hashid was the 
man to be consulted, and he was accordingly invited to visit 
Mr. Stanley at the consulate. From the venerable-looking 
sheikh, the new-comer elicited more information about Afri- 
can currency, the mode of procedure, the quantity and quality 
of stuffs required, than he had obtained from three months' 
study of books upon Central Africa; and from other Arab 
merchants to whom the ancient sheikh introduced him, he re- 
ceived valuable suggestions and hints, which enabled him at 
last to organize an expedition. 

The reader must bear in mind that the traveler requires only 
that which is sufficient for travel and exploration; that a 
superfluity of goods or means will prove as fatal to him as 
poverty of supplies. Mr. Stanley's informants gave him to 
understand that for one hundred men, 10 doti, or forty yards 
of cloth per diem, would suffice for food. The proper course 
to pursue, he found, would be to purchase 2,000 doti of Ameri- 
can sheeting, 1,000 doti of Kaniki, and 650 doti of the colored 
cloths, such as Barsati, a great favorite in Unyamwezi, Sohari, 
taken in Ugogo, etc., etc. These were deemed amply sufficient 
for the subsistence of one hundred men for twelve months. 
Two years at this rate would require 16,000 yards of American 
sheeting, 8,000 yards of Kaniki, and 5,200 yards of colored 
cloths. Second in importance to the amount of cloth required 
was the quantity and quality of the beads necessary. Beads, 
he was told, took the place of cloth currency among some 
tribes of the interior. One tribe preferred white to black 
beads, brown to yellow, red to green, green to white, and so 
on. Such being the case, he was obliged to study closely, and 
calculate the probable stay of the expedition in the several 
countries, so as to be sure to provide a sufficiency of each 
kind, and guard against any great overplus. 



HOW STANLEY FOUKI) LIVINGSTONE. 423 

After the beads, came the wire question. He discovered, 
after considerable trouble, that Nos. 5 and 6 — almost of the 
thickness of telegraph wire — were considered the best num- 
bers for trading purposes. While beads stand for copper 
coins in Africa, cloth measures for silver; wire is reckoned 
as gold in the countries beyond the Tanganyika. Tenfrasilah, 
or 350 lbs. of brass wire, his Arab adviser thought, would be 
ample. 

Having purchased the cloth, the beads and the wire, it was 
with no little pride that he surveyed the comely bales and 
packages lying piled up, row above row, in Capt. Webb's 
capacious store-room. Yet his work was not ended; it was 
but beginning. There were . provisions, cooking-utensils, 
boats, rope, twine, tents, donkeys, saddles, bagging, canvas, 
tar, needles, tools, ammunition, guns, equipments, hatchets, 
medicines, bedding, presents for chiefs — in short, a thousand 
things not yet purchased. The ordeal of chaffering and hag- 
gling with Banyans, Hindis, Arabs, and half-castes was most 
trying. For instance, he purchased twenty-two donkeys at 
Zanzibar. Forty and fifty dollars were asked, which he had 
to reduce to fifteen and twenty dollars by an infinite amount 
of argument worthy (as he thought) of a better cause. 

Two white men, Farquhar and Shaw, were the first en- 
gaged. The explorer then engaged upon enlisting, arming 
and equipping a faithful escort of twenty men for the road. 
The chief dragoman of the American Consulate informed him 
that he knew where several of Speke's Faithfuls were to be 
found. The idea had struck him before, that if he could ob- 
tain the services of a few men acquainted with the ways of 
white men, and who could induce other good men to join the 
expedition, it would be a most fortunate thing. More especi- 
ally had he thought of Bombay, considered to be the " faith- 
fulest " of the Faithfuls. 

With the aid of the dragoman, he secured in a few hours 
the services of five of the Faithfuls, Ulimengo, Baruti, Am- 
bari, Mabruki, and Uledi. When he asked them if they were 
willing to join another white man's expedition to Ujiji, they 
replied very readily that they were willing to join any brother 
of "Speke's." Dr. Kirk, who was present, told them that 
though Mr. Stanley was no brother of Speke's, he spoke his 
language. This distinction mattered but little to them; and 
he heard them, with great delight, declare their readiness to 
go anywhere with him, or do anything he wished. 

Bombay, his captain of escort, succeeded in getting eighteen 



424 HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 

more freemen to volunteer as "askari" (soldiers), men who 
he knew would not desert, and for whom he declared himself 
responsible. They were an exceedingly fine-looking body of 
men, far more intelligent in appearance than their employer 
had ever believed African barbarians could be. Their wages 
were set down at $36 each man per annum, or $3 each per 
month. Each soldier was provided with a flint-lock musket, 
powder-horn, bullet-pouch, knife, and hatchet, besides enough 
powder and ball for two hundred rounds. 

Bombay, in consideration of his rank, was engaged at $80 a 
year, half that sum in advance; a good muzzle-loading rifle, 
besides a pistol, knife and hatchet were given to him ; while 
the five other Faithfuls were engaged at $40 a year, with 
proper equipments as soldiers. 

In order that he might not be delayed if the caprice of a 
native chief refused him the means of crossing a river or lake, 
Stanley determined to carry his own boats. He accordingly 
procured one large boat, capable of carrying twenty persons, 
and a smaller one, which would hold six men, with suitable 
stores. He did not intend to carry the boats whole or bodily, 
but to strip them of their boards, and carry the timbers and 
thwarts only. As a substitute for the boards, he proposed to 
cover each boat with a double canvass skin well tarred. 

An insuperable obstacle to rapid transit in Africa is the want 
of carriers; and as speed was the main object of the expedi- 
tion under his command, his duty was to lessen this difiiculty 
as much as possible. His carriers could only be engaged after 
arriving at Bagamoyo, on the main land. He had over twenty 
good donkeys ready, and he thought a cart adapted for the 
goat-paths of Africa might prove an advantage. Accordingly, 
he had one constructed, eighteen inches wide and five feet 
long, supplied with two fore-wheels of a light American 
wagon, more for the purpose of conveying the narrow ammu- 
nition-boxes. He estimated that if a donkey could carry to 
Unyanyembe a load of four frasilahs, or one hundred and 
forty pounds, he ought to be able to draw eight frasilahs on 
such a cart, w^hich would be equal to the carrying capacities of 
four stout pagazis. 

When his purchases were completed, and he beheld them 
piled up, tier after tier, and row upon row, he was rather 
abashed at his own temerity. Here were nearly six tons of 
material; and as a man's maximum load does not exceed sev- 
enty pounds, his eleven thousand pounds would require about 
one hundred and sixty men. 



HOW STANIiEY FOUND LnTNGSTONE. 425 

Shortly before their departure from Zanzibar, Mr. Stanley 
was presented to the sultan, who gave him letters to his offi- 
cers at Bagamoyo and Kaole, and a general introductory letter 
to all Arab merchants whom he might meet on the road; and 
concluded his remarks to the traveler with the expressed hope 
that, on whatever mission he was bound, he would be per- 
fectly successful. 

By the fourth of February, all his preparations were com- 
pleted; and on the fifth, the New York Herald expedition 
sailed from Zanzibar to the mainland. This space has been 
devoted to the fitting out of the expedition, because only a 
fairly detailed account can give any idea of the difficulties 
which an experienced traveler, of more than ordinary intelli- 
gence and energy (to put it mildly) encounters in organizing an 
expedition to Central Africa, even with unlimited means at 
his command. 

There were two good and sufficient reasons why Mr. Stanley 
was to devote all his energy to leading the expedition as quick- 
ly as possible from Bagamoyo. First he wished to reach Ujiji 
before the news reached Livingstone that any one was in 
search of him ; for his impression of the great missionary was 
that he was a man who would try to put as much distance as 
possible between them, rather than make an effort to shorten 
it, and he would have his long journey for nothing. Second, 
the Masika, or rainy season, would soon be upon them, 
which, if it caught him at Bagamoyo, would prevent his de- 
parture until it was over, which meant a delay of forty days. 

On the 25th of March, exactly seventy-three days after his 
arrival at Zanzibar, Stanley's fifth caravan, led by himself, 
left the town of Bagamoyo for thefirst journey westward. The 
other caravans had preceded him, some by as much as a month. 
They left Bagamoyo, the attraction of all the curious, with 
much eclat; and defiled up a narrow lane shaded almost to 
twilight by the dense umbrage of two parallel rows of mimosas. 
They were all in the highest spirits. The first camp, Shamba 
Gonera, they arrived at in one hour and thirty minutes, equal 
to three and one-fourth miles. The first or "little journey," 
was performed very well, " considering," as the Irishman says. 
The boy Selim upset the cart not more than three times ; 
Zaidi, the soldier, only once let his donkey, -which carried his 
master's box of ammunition and one bag of his clothes, lie in a 
puddle of black water. The clothes had to be re-washed ; the 
ammunition-box, thanks to its owner's prevision, was water- 
proof. Kamna perhaps knew the art of donkey-driving, but 



If 

I 



w 

I! 11 
III 

■ 



B 




HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. '427 

had sung himself- into oblivion of the difficulties with which 
an animal of the pure asinine breed has to contend, such as 
not knowing the road, and inability to resist the temptation of 
straying into a manioc-field ; and the donkey, misunderstand- 
ing the direction in which he was required to go, ran off at 
full speed along an opposite road, until his pack got unbal- 
anced, and he was fain to come to the earth. But these inci- 
dents were trivial, of no importance, and natural to the first 
" little journey" in Africa. 

The road was a mere foot-path, and led over a soil which, 
though sandy, was of surprising fertility, producing grain and 
vegetables a hundred fold, the sowing and planting of which 
was done in the most unskilful manner. In their fields, at 
heedless labor, were men and women in the scantiest costumes, 
compared with which Adam and Eve, in their fig-leaf apparel, 
must have been modesty indeed. 

They were detained for three days at this first stopping- 
place ; but shortly after leaving it reached the turbid Kingani, 
famous for its hippopotami. They began to thread the jungle 
along its right bank until they were halted point-blank by a 
narrow sluice having an immeasurable depth of black mud. 
The difficulty presented by this was very grave, although its 
breadth was barely eight feet; the donkeys, and least of all 
the horses, could not be made to traverse two poles like the 
biped carriers, neither could they be driven into the sluice, 
where they would quickly founder. The only available way 
of crossing it in safety was by means of a bridge, to endure in 
this conservative land for generations as the handiwork of the 
Wasungu. So they set to work, there being no help for it, 
with American axes, to build a bridge. It was composed of six 
stout trees thrown across ; over these were laid crosswise fif- 
teen pack saddles, these covered again with a thick layer of 
grass. All the animals crossed it safely; and then for the 
third time that morning the process of wading was performed. 

A half-mile to the north, and they reached the ferry; while 
the work of unloading the donkeys was going forward, Stan- 
ley sat down on a condemned canoe to amuse himself with the 
hippopotami by peppering their thick skulls with his No. 12 
smooth-bore. One old fellow, with the look of a sage, was tap- 
ped close to the right ear by one of his smaller bullets ; in- 
stead of submerging himself as others had done, he coolly 
turned round his head as if to ask : 

" Why this waste of valuable cartridges on us ?" 

The response to this mute inquiry of his sageship was an 



428 HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 

ounce and a quarter bullet from the smoothbore, which made 
him bellow with pain, and in a few moments he rose again, 
tumbling in his death agonies. As his groans were so piteous, 
the sportsman refrained from a useless sacrifice of life, and 
left the amphibious horde in peace. 

Mr. Stanley was anxious to try what a good watch-dog might 
do to protect him from the unmannerly Wagogo, of whom he 
had heard much from the Arabs ; and had accordingly brought 
one with him. He found it of very great use, in keeping out 
of his tent these ruffians of the wilderness. Shortly after 
crossing the above-named river, the fifth caravan became 
the fourth, by reason of delays which sickness imposed upon 
that which had started the earlier. 

They pushed on toward Kingaru, the rainy season having 
now begun, and made travel very difficult. The natives pour- 
ed into cam^D from the villages in the woods with their vendi- 
bles. Foremost among these, as in duty bound, came the chief, 
bearing three measures of matama and a half -measure of rice, 
of which he begged, with paternal smiles, the traveler's ac- 
ceptance. But under the smiling mask, bleared eyes, and 
wrinkled front of him was visible the soul of trickery, which 
was of the cunningest kind. Responding under the same mask 
adopted by this knavish elder, Stanley said : 

*' The chief of Kingaru has called me a rich sultan. If I am 
a rich sultan why comes not the chief with a rich present to 
me that he might get a rich return ?" 

Said he, with another leer of his wrinkled visage : 

" Kingaru is poor, there is no matama in the village." 

To this appeal, Mr. Stanley replied that since there was no 
matama in the village, he would pay the chief half a shukka, 
or a yard of cloth, which would be exactly equivalent to his 
present; that if the chief preferred to call his small basketful 
a present, the white man would be content to call his yard of 
cloth a present. With this logic the chief had to be satisfied. 

One of the two horses brought from Zanzibar died the next 
day, and by the orders of the leader, was buried, in order that 
the decaying flesh might not affect the health of the people of 
Kingaru. This consideration, however, was but poorly repaid; 
for the chief demanded that the white man should pay a fine 
of two doti of Merikani for his presumption in burying the 
horse within his domain. To this Stanley replied by demand- 
ing how many soldiers he had. The question was repeated be- 
fore the answer was given that he had none, only a few young 
men. To this the white man retorted: 



HOW STANLEY FOTJND LimsrGSTONE. 429 

*' Oh, I thought you might have a thousand men with you, 
by your going to fine a strong white man, who has plenty of 
guns and soldiers, two doti for burying a dead horse." 

The chief was staggered but not convinced; whereupon Stan- 
ley, after explaining the sanitary reasons for burying the ani- 
mal, generously offered to repair his error at once : 

" This minute my soldiers shall dig him out again, and cover 
up the soil as it was before; and the horse shall be left where 
he died. Ho I Bombay, take soldiers with jembes to dig my 
horse out of the ground, drag him to where he died, and make 
everything ready for a march to-morrow morning." 

Kingaru, his voice considerably higher, and his head mov- 
ing to and fro with emotion, cries out : 

"No, no, master! Let not the white man get angry. The 
horse is dead, and now lies buried; let him remain so, since 
he is already there; and let us be friends again." 

The second horse died that night. Other misfortunes came. 
Out of a force of twenty-five men, one deserted, and ten were 
on the sick-list. They left Kingaru April 6 ; but the long stay 
there had completely demoralized soldiers and pagazis. Only 
a few of them had strength to reach Imbiki before night; the 
others, attending the laden donkeys, put in an appearance next 
morning, in a lamentable state of mind and body. 

At Muhalleh, which they reached a little after the middle of 
April, they met Selim bin Bashid, bound- eastward, with a 
huge caravan carrying three hundred ivory tusks. This good 
Arab, besides welcoming the newcomer with a present of rice, 
gave him news of Livingstone. He had met the old traveler 
at Ujiji, had lived in the next hut to him for three weeks, de- 
scribed him as looking old, with long gray mustaches and 
beard, just recovered from severe illness, looking very wan; 
when fully recovered Livingstone intended to visit a country 
called Manyuema by way of Marungu. 

We need not recount the many incidents of the journey for 
some time to come; choice must be made between them. The 
first of May found them struggling through the mire and wa- 
ter of the ^Nlakata with a caravan bodily sick, "from the exer- 
tion and fatigue of crossing so many rivers and wading 
through marshes. For thirty miles from their camp was the 
Makata plain, an extensive swamp. The water was on an aver- 
age a foot in depth; in some places they plunged into 
holes three, four, and even five feet deep. Plash, splash, 
plash, splash, were the only sounds they heard from the com- 
mencement of the march until they found the bomas occupy- 



HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 431 

ing the only dry spots along the line of march. This kind of 
work continued for two days, until they came in sight of the 
Rudewa River, another powerful stream with banks brimful of 
rushing rainwater. The acme of discomfort and vexation was 
realized on the five-mile march from the Rudewa branch. Af- 
ter three hours of splashing through four feet of water, they 
reached dry land, and had traversed the swamp of "Makata. 
But not without the swamp and its horrors having left a dura- 
ble impression upon our minds ; no one was disposed to forget 
its fatigues, nor the nausea of travel which it almost engend- 
ered. Subsequently, they had to remember its passage still 
more vividly, and to regret that they had undertaken the jour- 
ney during the Masika season. When the animals died from 
this date by twos and threes, almost every day, until but five 
sickly, worn-out beasts remained; when the Wanguana, sol- 
diers and pagazis sickened of diseases innumerable ; and when 
Stanley himself was brought to the very brink of the grave by 
illness. 

But illness was not the only danger with which he had to 
contend. Of the two white men hired at Zanzibar, Farquhar 
had shown himself to be inexcusably extravagant in the expen- 
diture of the stores committed to his care. He was continual- 
ly crying out like a sick baby for half a dozen people to wait 
upon him, and if they did not happen to understand the En- 
glish language in which he addressed them, he poured out a 
volley of the most profane abuse that ever offended the ears 
of a Christian gentleman. The soldiers were in such dread of 
his insane violence that they feared to go near him. He was 
ill with a disease of which Stanley could secure no definite 
description of the symptoms ; and by his weight and see-sawing 
method of riding killed every donkey that he rode. 

But Shaw was even worse to deal with than Farquhar; and 
since he had been with the caravan which Stanley led in per- 
son, the leader's patience, so far as he was concerned, was 
about exhausted, when on May 15, the crisis came. It was at 
breakfast time ; the meal had just been served, and Stanley had 
asked Shaw to carve. 

" What dog's meat is this?" he asked, in the most insolent 
way imaginable. 

" What do you mean ?" asked Stanley. 

Then ensued a volley of abuse, tempered with profanity; 
to which the indignant chief replied by a recapitulation of 
what they had brought upon him ; closing with an expostula- 
tion at being sworn at at his own table, and reminding Shaw 



432 HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 

that he was his (Stanley's) servant. An oath was the rejoin- 
der; but before Mr. Shaw could say more, he had measured 
his length on the ground. 

He thereupon demanded his discharge; to which Stanley 
most willingly agreed; giving orders at once that Shaw's tent 
should be struck, and that he and his baggage should be es- 
corted two hundred yards outside the camp. After breakfast 
was over, Stanley explained to Farquhar how necessary it was 
for him to be able to proceed; that as Farquhar was sick, and 
would probably be unable to march for a time, it would be 
better that he should be left in some quiet place, under the 
care of a good chief, who would, for a consideration, look af- 
ter him until he got well. To this Farquhar had agreed. 

Stanley had barely finished speaking before Bombay came to 
the door and informed him that Mr. Shaw would like to speak 
to him. He went out to the gate of the camp, and the-re met 
Shaw, looking extremely penitent and ashamed. He com- 
menced to ask pardon, and began imploriug Stanley to take 
him back again ; promising that he should never find fault 
with him again. Stanley held out his hand to him, saying: 

" Don't mention it, my dear fellow. Quarrels occur in the 
best of families. Since you apologize, there is an end of it." 

That night as Stanley was falling asleep, he heard a shot, 
and a bullet tore through his tent, a few inches above his body. 
He snatched his revolvers and rushed out of his tent, and ask- 
ed the men about the watchfires, "Who shot?" They had 
all jumped up, rather startled at the sudden report. 

"Who fired that gun?" 

" Bana Mdogo," said one, (the little master, i. e., Shaw). 

Stanley lit a candle, and walked with it to Shaw's tent. 

" Shaw, did you fire?" 

There was no answer. He seemed to be asleep, he was 
breathing so hard. 

"Shaw! Shawl did you fire that shot?" 

" Eh — eh?" said he, suddenly awaking — " me? — me fire? I 
have been asleep." 

Stanley's eye caught sight of his gun lying near him. He 
seized it, felt it, put his little finger down the barrel. The gun 
was warm, his finger was black from the burnt gunpowder. 

" What is this?" he asked, holding his finger up; " the gun 
is warm. The men tell me you fired." 

"Ah, yes," replied Shaw; "I remember it. I dreamed I 
saw a thief pass my door, and I fired. Ah — ^yes^I forgot. I 
did fire. Why, what is the matter?" 



HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 433 

**0h, nothing," said Stanley. "But I would advise you in 
future, in order to avoid all suspicion, not to fire into my tent, 
or at least so near me. I might get hurt, you know, in which 
case ugly reports would get about, and this perhaps would be 
disagreeable, as you are probably aware. Good night." 

But what a clumsy way to murder! Surely, had he done so, 
Stanley's own men would have punished him as the crime de- 
served. A thousand better opportunities than this would be 
presented in a month's march. Stanley could only account 
for it by supposing he was momentarily insane. 

The next thing which must be done was to provide a home 
for Farquhar until he should be able to return to the coast. 
Leucole, the chief of the village, with whom Stanley made 
arrangements for Farquhar's protection and comfort, sug- 
gested that he should appoint some man in his employ to wait 
on him, and interpret his wishes to Leucole's people. Making 
inquiry, Stanley was assured by Bombay that any soldier whom 
he might appoint for this purpose would obey him until he 
was gone, and then run away. Despite Bombay's assertion, 
the leader inquired of each man personally whether he would 
be willing to stay behind, and wait on the sick Musungu 
(white man). From each man he received an answer in the 
negative; they were afraid of him, he damned them so; and 
Ulimengo mimicked him so faithfully, yet so ludicrously, that 
it was almost impossible to abstain from laughing. As, how- 
ever, the sick man absolutely needed some one to attend him, 
Stanley was compelled to use his authority; and Jako, who 
could speak English, was, despite his protestations and prayers, 
appointed. Six months provisions of white beads, besides a 
present for Leucole, a carbine, ammunition and tea were set 
aside for Farquhar's wants. 

This took place in the neighborhood of the Mpwapwa range 
of mountains, a country memorable to the traveler by reason 
of its plentiful and excellent milk, and its equally plentiful 
earwigs, for which he did not feel quite so grateful as for the 
milk. Second to the earwigs in importance and numbers he 
found the white ants, whose powers of destructiveness were 
simply awful. Mats, cloth, portmanteaus, clothes, in short, 
every article he possessed, seemed to be on the verge of de- 
struction; and as he witnessed their voracity, he felt anxious 
lest his tent should be devoured while he slept. 

Marenga Mkali, over thirty miles across, was at last before 
them. This distance had to be traversed within thirty-six 
hours, so that the fatigue of the ordinary march would be more 



434 HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 

than doubled by this. From Chunyo to Ugogo not one drop 
of water was to be found. As a large caravan, say over two 
hundred souls, seldom travels over one and three-quarter miles 
an hour, a march of thirty miles would require seventeen hours 
of endurance, without water and with but little rest. East 
Africa generally possessing unlimited quantities of wa#er, 
caravans have not been compelled, for lack of that element, to 
have recourse to the mushok of Indiaand the khirbehof Egypt. 
Being able to cross the waterless districts by a couple of long 
marches, they content themselves at the time with a small 
gourdful, and with keeping their imaginations dwelling upon 
the copious quantities they will drink upon arriving at the 
watering-place. 

The march through this waterless district was most monoto- 
nous, and a dangerous fever attacked Stanley, which seemed 
to eat into his very vitals. The wonders of Africa that bodied 
themselves forth in the shape of flocks of zebras, giraffes, 
elands, or antelopes, galloping over the jungleless plain, had 
no charm for him; nor could they serve to draw his atten- 
tion from the severe fit of illness which depressed him. To- 
ward the end of the first march he was not able to sit upon the 
donkey's back; nor would it do, when, but a third of the way 
across the wilderness, to halt until the next day; soldiers were 
therefore detailed to carry him in a hammock, and when the 
terekeza, or afternoon march, was performed, he lay in a leth- 
argic state, unconscious of all things. With the night passed 
the fever, and at three o'clock in the morning, when the march 
was resumed, he was booted and spurred, and the recognized 
mtongi of his caravan once more. At eight A. M. they had 
performed the thirty-two miles. The wilderness of Marenga 
Mkali had been passed, and they had entered Ugogo. 

From their entrance into Ugogo until they quitted it, they 
were assailed by the most shameless demands from the chiefs 
for presents. If a sheep was *' given " the traveler, twice its 
value in cloth was demanded. This was in consequence of the 
subservience of the Arabs, who had always been afraid to re- 
sist such extortions. But Stanley was of different mettle; and 
by dint of resolution, and displaying his Winchesters to good 
advantage, he succeeded in getting provisions at not much 
more than the price which should have been asked for them. 

June 9, they arrived at the limits of Ugogo; and the 13th 
brought them to the last village of Magunda Mkali. Here 
Stanley, as a reward to his faithful soldiers and pagazis, pur- 
chased a bullock and had it slaughtered, and gave each a khete 



HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 



435 



of red beads to indulge his appetite for whatever little luxury 
the country afforded. On the morning of the 17th, they reach- 
ed Eastern Tura, the frontier village of Unyamwezi Five 




days later, they were on the borders of Unyanyembe. Here 
Stanley again slaughtered a bullock for the benefit of the men 
who had made such good time. No one slept much that night. 



28 



436 HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 

Long before dawn the fires were lit, and great steaks were 
broiling, that their stomachs might rejoice before parting with 
the Musungu, whose bounty they had so often tasted. Six 
rounds of powder were served to each soldier and pagazi who 
owned a gun, to fire away when they should be near the Arab 
houses. The meanest pagazi had his best cloth about his 
loins, and some were exceedingly gorgeous in Ulyah *' Com- 
beesa Poonga" and crimson *' Jawah," the glossy *'Rehani," 
and the neat ** Dabwani." The soldiers were mustered in new 
tarbooshes, and the long white shirts of the Mrima and the 
island. For this was the great and happy day which had been on 
their tongues ever since quitting the coast, for which they had 
made those noted marches latterly — one hundred and seventy- 
eight and a half miles in sixteen days, including pauses — some- 
thing over eleven miles a day! 

The signal sounded, and the caravan was joyfully off with 
banners flying, and trumpets and horns blaring. A short two 
hours and a half's march brought them within sight of Kwi- 
kuru, which is about two miles south of Tabora, the main 
Arab town; on the outside of which they saw a long line of 
men in clean shirts, whereat they opened their charged bat- 
teries, and fired a volley of small arms such as Kwikuru seldom 
heard before. The pagazis closed up and adopted the swag- 
ger of veterans ; the soldiers blazed away uninterruptedly ; 
while Stanley, seeing that the Arabs were advancing toward 
him, left the ranks, and held out his hand, which was im- 
mediately grasped by Sheikh Sayd bin Salim, and then by 
about two^ dozen people. And thus their entree into Un- 
yanyembe was effected. 

The traveler received a noiseless ovation as he walked by 
the side of the governor, toward his tembe in Kwikuru, or the 
capital. The Wanyamwezi pagazis were out by hundreds, the 
warriors of Mkasiwa, the sultan, hovered around their chief; 
the children — naked dusky cherubs — were seen between the 
legs of their parents, even infants a few months old slung 
over their mothers' backs, all paid the tribute due to his color, 
with one grand concentrated stare. 

As he approached the tembe of Sayd bin Salim, Sheikh bin 
Nasib and other great Arabs joined them. Before the great 
door of the tembe the men had stacked the bales, and piled 
the boxes, and were using their tongues at a furious rate, re- 
lating to the chiefs and soldiers of the first, second and fourth 
caravans the many events which had befallen them, and 
which seemed to them the only things worth relating. It must 



HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 437 

be borne in mind that the third caravan, under the leadership 
of Farquhar, had long since been consolidated with that led 
by Stanley in person. 

Outside of their own limited circles the men evidently cared 
for nothing. Then the several chiefs of the other caravans had 
in turn to relate their experiences of the road; and the noise 
of tongues was loud and furious. But as Stanley and the 
sheikhs approached, all this loud-sounding gabble ceased, and 
his caravan chiefs and guides rushed to him to hail him as "mas- 
ter,^' and to salute him as their friend. One fellow, faithful 
Baruti, threw himself at his feet; the others fired their guns 
and acted like madmen suddenly become frenzied; and a 
general cry of welcome was heard on all sides. 

"Walk in, master; this is your house now; here are your 
men's quarters; here you will receive the great Arabs; here is 
the cook-house; here is the store-house; here is the prison 
for the refractory; here are your white man's apartments; 
and these are your own; here is the bed-room, here is the 
gun-room, bath-room, etc.;" so spoke Sheikh Sayd as he 
showed the several places. 

Bombay was ordered to unlock the strong store-room, to 
pile the bales in regular tiers, the beads in rows one above an- 
other, and the wire in a separate place. The boats, canvas, 
etc., were to be placed high above the reach of white ants, 
and the boxes of ammunition and the powder-kegs were to be 
stored in the gun-room, out of the reach of danger. Then a 
bale of cloth was opened, and each carrier was rewarded ac- 
cording to his merits, that each of them might proceed home 
to his friends and neighbors, and tell them how much better 
the white man had behaved than the Arabs. 

The reports of the leaders of the first, second and fourth 
caravans were then received, their separate stores inspected, 
and the details and events of their marches heard. Each 
leader was then and there rewarded with a handsome cloth, 
and five doti of Merikani. The nulnber of Stanley's followers 
was now reduced to twenty-five. 

But the road to Ujijiwas closed by Mirambo, chief of 
Uyoweh; what was to be done? Stanley found himself in the 
midst of preparations for war on the part of the Arabs of 
Unyanyembe. 

This Mirambo of Uyoweh, it seems, for the past few years 
had been in a state of chronic discontent with the policies of the 
neighboring chiefs. Formerly a pagazi for an Arab, he had 
now assumed regal power, with the usual knack of unconscioij- 



HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 439 

able rascals who care not by what nieans they step into power. 
When the chief of Uyoweh died, Mirambo, who was head of a 
gang of robbers infesting the forests of AVilyankuru, suddenly 
entered Uj^oweh, and constituted himself lord paramount by 
force. Some feats of enterprise, which he performed to the 
enrichment of all those who recognized his authority, estab- 
lished him firmly in his position. This was but a beginning; 
he carried war through Ugara to Ukonongo, through Usagozi 
to the borders of Uvinza, and after destroying the population 
over three degrees of latitude, he conceived a grievance against 
Mkasiwa, and against the Arabs, because they would not sus- 
tain him in his ambitious projects against their ally and friend 
with whom they were living in peace. 

The first outrage which this audacious man committed 
against the Arabs was the halting of an Ujiji-bound caravan, 
and the demand for ^yq kegs of gunpowder, ^ye guns, and 
^ve bales of cloth. This extraordinary demand, after expend- 
ing more than a day in fierce controversy, was paid ; but the 
Arabs, if they were surprised at the exorbitant blackmail de- 
manded of them, were more than ever surprised when told to 
return the way that they came; and that no Arab caravan 
should pass to Ujiji except over his dead body. 

On the return of the unfortunate Arabs to Unyanyembe, 
they reported the facts to Sheikh Sayd bin Salim, the chief 
of the Arab colony. This old man being averse to war, of 
course tried every means to induce Mirambo as of old to be 
satisfied with presents, but Mirambo this time was obdurate, 
and sternly determined on war unless the Arabs aided him in 
the warfare he was about to wage against old Mkasiwa, sultan 
of the AVanyamwezi of Unyanyembe. 

Stanley was invited to attend the council of war, which was 
held a few days after his arrival in Unyanyembe, the dispute 
with Mirambo having begun but a short time before he reach- 
ed that place. Two speeches delivered on that occasion have 
been preserved, and shall here be reproduced. The first 
speaker was Khamis bin Abdullah, a bold and brave man, ever 
ready to stand up for the privileges of the Arabs, and their 
right to pass through any country for legitimate trade. He 
was the man, who, in Speke's journal, is reported to have shot 
Maula, an old chief who sided with Manwa Sera during the 
wars of 1860. 

"This is the status of affairs: Mirambo says that for years 
he has been engaged in war against the neighboring Washensi 
and has come out of it victorious ; he says that this is a great 



440 HOW STAl^LEY FOUKD LIVING STOJTE. 

year with him ; that he is going to fight the Arabs and the 
Wanyamwezi of Unyanyembe, and that he shall not stop until 
every Arab is driven from Unyanyembe, and he rules over this 
country in place of Mkasiwa. Children of Oman, shall it be 
so? Speak, Salim, son of Sayf, shall we go to meet this 
Mshensi [pagan] or shall we return to our island?" 

A murmur of approbation followed the speech of Khamis 
bin Abdullah, the majority of those present being young men 
eager to punish the audacious Mirambo. Salim, the son of 
Sayf, an old patriarch, slow of speech, tried to appease the 
passions of the young men; but Khamis' bold words had 
made too deep an impression on their minds'. Then Soud 
spoke: 

"My father used to tell me that he remembered the days 
when Arabs could go through the country from Bagamoyo to 
Ujiji, and from Kilwa to Lunda, and from Usenda to Uganda 
armed with canes. Those days are gone by. We have stood 
the insolence of the Wagogo long enough. Swaruru of Usui 
just takes from us whatever he w^ants; and now, here is Mir- 
ambo, who says, after taking more than five bales of cloth as 
tribute from one man, that no Arab caravan shall go to Ujiji, 
but over his body. Are we prepared to give up the ivory of 
Ujiji, of Urundi, of Karagwah, of Uganda, because of this one 
man? I say war — war until w^e have got his beard under our 
feet — war until the whole of Uyoweh and Wilyankuru is de- 
stroyed — war until we can again travel through any part of 
the country with only our walking-canes in our hands!" 

The universal assent that followed Soud's speech showed 
that there w^as to be a war. Stanley thought of Livingstone — 
what if he were marching to Unyanyembe directly through the 
war country? 

Having found from the Arabs that they intended to finish 
the war quickly — at most within fifteen days, as Uyoweh was 
only four days' march distant — the traveler volunteered to ac- 
company them, take his loaded caravan with him as far as 
Mfuto, and there leave it in charge of a few guards, and with 
the rest march on with the Arab army. His hope was, that it 
might be possible, after the defeat of Mirambo, and his for- 
est banditti, the Ruga-Ruga, to take his expedition direct to 
Ujiji by the road now closed. The Arabs were sanguine of 
victory; and the white man partook of their enthusiasm. 

In Unyanyembe Stanley found the Livingstone caravan, 
which had been ready at Bagamoyo before his own was pre- 
pared to start. He found that the chief of the caravan had in 



HOW STANLEY FOtrND LIVINGSTONE. 441 

his possession a packet of letters addressed to Dr. Livingstone, 
which had been sealed up at Zanzibar November 1, 1870. 
. The fever attacked the expedition in Unyanyembe while the 
Arabs were making their warlike preparations ; first, the leader 
was prostrated, and was unconscious for a week. On the 
tenth day after his attack, Shaw was taken down; next, Selim, 
the Christian Arab boy who acted as interpreter, was attacked ; 
but by July 28, all were recovered; and on the next morning 
Stanley had fifty men loaded with bales, beads and wire for 
Ujiji. The fourth day after leaving Unyanyembe, they reached 
Mfuto, the rendezvous of the Arab army. A halt was ordered 
for the next day, in order to make themselves strong by eating 
the beeves, which they freely slaughtered. 

This army numbered something like two thousand five hun- 
dred men; of whom, however, twelve hundred and fifty-five 
were slaves, and three hundred consisted of independent chiefs 
and their followers. Of these men fifteen hundred were armed 
with guns, flint-lock muskets, German and French double-bar- 
rels, some English Enfields, and American Springfields. Be- 
sides these muskets, they were mostly armed with spears and 
long knives, for the purpose of decapitating and inflicting 
vengeful gashes in the dead bodies. Powder and ball were 
plentiful; some men were served a hundred rounds each; 
Stanley's people received each man sixty rounds. 

The date of their leaving Mfuto for battle was August 3. All 
the searcher's goods were stored in Mfuto, ready for the march 
to Ujiji, should they be victorious over the African chief, but 
at least for safety, whatever befell them. 

Before they left Umanda, six hours distant from Mfuto, the 
army was thoroughly aroused by a speech from an Arab orator. 
A loud, wild shout followed his bold harangue, the gates of the 
village were thrown open, and blue, red, and white-robed sol- 
diers were bounding upward like so many gymnasts, firing their 
guns incessantly, in order to encourage themselves with noise, 
or to strike terror among those who awaited them within the 
strong enclosure of Zimbizo. As Zimbizo was distant only five 
hours from Umanda, at 11 A. M. they came in view of it. They 
halted on the verge of a cultivated area surrounding it and its 
neighbors, within the shadow of the forest. Strict orders had 
been given by the several chiefs that their respective commands 
were not to fire, until they were within shooting distance of 
the boma. 

Khamis bin Abdullah crept through the forest to the west of 
the village. TheWanyamwezitook their position before the 



HOW STAiSTLEY FOC^ND LIVi:>7GSTONE. - 443 

main gateway, aided hj the forces of Soud, the son of Sayd on 
the right, and the son of Habib on the left; Abdullah, Mus- 
soud, Stanley and others made ready to attack the eastern gates, 
which arrangement effectually shut them in, with the excep- 
tion of the northern side. 

Suddenly, a volley opened upon them, as they emerged from 
the forest along the Unyanyembe road, in the direction they 
had been anticipating the sight of an enemy, and immediately 
the attacking forces began their firing in most splendid style. 
There were some ludicrous scenes of men pretending to fire, 
then jumping off to one side, then forward, then backward, 
with the agility of hopping frogs, but the battle was none the 
less in earnest. Then there was a lull in the firing, and the 
assailants were rushing into the village from the west, the 
south, the north, through the gates and over the tall palings 
that surrounded the village, like so many merry Andrews; 
and the poor villagers were flying from the enclosure toward 
the mountains, through the northern gate,'pursued by the fleet- 
est runners of the attacking force, and pelted in the back by 
bullets from breech-loaders and shot-guns. 

The village was strongly defended, and not more than 
twenty dead bodies were found in it, the strong, thick wooden 
paling having afforded excellent protection against the bul- 
lets. 

From Zimbizo, after having left a sufficient force to defend 
it, they sallied out, and in an hour had cleared the neighbor- 
hood of the enemy, having captured two other villages, which 
they committed to the flames, after gutting them of all valu- 
ables. A few tusks of ivory, and about fifty slaves, besides 
•an abundance of grain, composed the "loot" which fell to 
the portion of the Arabs. 

On the next day, a detachment of Arabs and slaves, seven 
hundred strong, scoured the surrounding country, and carried 
fire and devastation up to the boma of Wilyankuru. On the 
succeeding day, the 6th, Soud bin Sayd and about twenty 
other young Arabs led a force of five hundred men against 
Wilyankuru itself, where it was supposed that Mirambo was 
living. Another party went out toward the low wooded hills, 
a short distance north of Zimbizo, near which place they sur- 
prised a youthful forest thief asleep, whose head they stretch- 
ed backward, and cut it off as though he were a goat or a 
sheep. Another party sallied out southward, and defeated a 
party of Mirambo's "bushwhackers," news of which reached 
the main body at noon. 



444 sow STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 

In the morning, Stanley had gone to Saydbin Salhn's tembe, 
to represent to him how necessary it was to burn the long grass 
in the forest of Zimbizo, lest it might hide any of the enemy; 
but soon afterward, he had been struck down with another 
attack of intermittent fever, and was obliged to turn in and 
cover himself with blankets to produce perspiration ; but not, 
however, until he had ordered Bombay and Shaw not to per- 
mit any of his men to leave the camp. He was told soon after- 
ward by Selim that more than one-half had gone to the attack 
on Wilyankuru, with Soud bin Sayd. 

About six P. M. the entire camp of Zimbizo was electrified 
with the news that all the Arabs who had accompanied Soud 
bin Sayd had been killed ; and that more than one-half of his 
party had been slain. Some of Stanley's men had returned, 
and from them he learned that ^ve of their number had been 
killed. He learned also that they had succeeded in capturing 
Wilyankuru in a very short time ; that Mirambo and his son 
were there ; that as they succeeded in effecting an entrance, 
Mirambo had collected his men, and after leaving the village, 
had formed an ambush in the grass, on each side of the road, 
between Wilyankuru and Zimbizo, and that as the attacking 
party was returning home laden with over a hundred tusks of 
ivory, and sixty bales of cloth, and two or three hundred 
slaves, Mirambo 's men suddenly rose up on both sides of 
them., and stabbed them with their spears. The brave Soud 
had fired his double-barreled gun and killed two men, and 
was in the act of loading again when a spear was launched, 
which penetrated through and through him; all the other 
Arabs shared the same fate. This sudden attack from an 
enemy they believed to be conquered, so demoralized the party 
that, dropping their spoil, each man took to his heels, and 
after making a wide detour through the woods, returned to 
Zimbizo to repeat the dolorous tale. 

The effect of this defeat is indescribable. It was impossible 
to sleep, from the shrieks of the women whose husbands had 
fallen. All night they howled their lamentations, and some- 
times might be heard the groans of the wounded who had con- 
trived to crawl through the grass unperceived by the enemy. 
Fugitives were continually coming in through the night, but 
none of Stanley's men who were reported to be dead were ever 
heard of again. 

The 7th was a day of distrust, sorrow, and retreat; the 
Arabs accused one another for urging war without expending 
all peaceful means first. There were stormy councils of war 



HOW STANLEY FOUND LiriNGSTONE:. 445 

held, wherein some proposed to return at once to Unyanyembe, 
and keep within their own houses ; and Khamis bin Abdullah 
raved like an insulted monarch against the abject cowardice 
of his compatriots. These stormy meetings and propositions 
to retreat were soon known throughout the camp, and assisted 
more than anything else to demoralize completely the com- 
bined forces of Wanyamwezi and slaves. Stanley sent Bom- 
bay to Sayd bin Salim to advise him not to think of retreat, 
as it would only be inviting Mirambo to carry the war to 
Unyanyembe. 

After dispatching Bombay with this message, he fell asleep; 
but about half -past one was awakened by Selim saying : 

"Master, get up, they are all running away, and Khamis bin 
Abdullah himself is going." 

With the aid of Selim, the sick man dressed himself and 
staggered toward the door. His first sight was of Thani bin 
Abdullah being dragged away, who, when he caught sight of 
Stanley, shouted out : 

' ' Bana — quick — Mirambo is coming ! ' ' 

He was then turning to run, and putting on his jacket, with 
his eyes almost starting out of their sockets with terror. 
Khamis bin Abdullah was also about departing, he being the 
last Arab to leave. Two of Stanley's men were following him ; 
these Selim was ordered to force back with a revolver. Shaw 
was saddling his. own donkey with his master's saddle, prepar- 
atory to giving him the slip and leaving him in the lurch to the 
tender mercies of Mirambo. There w^ere only Bombay, Ma- 
bruki Speke, Chanda (who was coolly eating his dinner), Ma- 
bruki Unyanyembe, Mtamani, Juma, and Sarmean — only sev- 
en out of fifty. All the others had deserted, and were by this 
time far away, except Uledi and Zaidi, whom Selim brought 
back at the point of a loaded revolver. Selim was then told to 
saddle his master's donkey and Bombay to assist Shaw to saddle 
his own. In a few moments they were on the road, the men ever 
looking back for the coming enemy; they belabored the don- 
keys to some purpose, for they went at a hard trot, which gave 
the sick man intense pain. He would gladly have lain down 
to die, but life was sweet, and he had not yet given up all hope of 
being able to preserve it to the full and final accomplishment 
of his mission. His mind was actively at work contriving and 
planning during the long, lonely hours of night which they em- 
ployed to reach Mf uto, whither he found the Arabs had re- 
treated. In the night Shaw tumbled off his donkey, and would 
not rise, though implored to do so. As Stanley did not de- 



446 HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 

spair himself, so he did not intend that Shaw should despair. 
He was lifted on his animal, and a man was placed on each 
side of him to assist him; thus they rode through the dark- 
ness. At midnight they reached Mfuto safely, and were at 
once admitted into the village, from which they had issued so 
valiantly, to which they returned so ignominiously. 

Stanley found that all his men had arrived here before dark. 
Ulimengo, who had distinguished himself by a song boasting 
of weapons and numbers on starting out, and was so sanguine 
of victory, had performed the eleven hours' march in six 
hours; sturdy Chowpereh, whom he regarded as the faithful- 
est of his people, had arrived only half an hour later than 
Ulimengo; and frisky Khamisi, the dany, the orator, the 
rampant demagogue — ^yes, he had come third; and Speke's 
*' Faithfuls" had proved as cowardly as any poor " nigger" of 
them all. Only Selim, the Arab boy from Jerusalem, had 
proved brave and faithful. Shaw, though an European born, 
proved that he possessed a soul as mean and base as, if not 
meaner than, that of the negroes. 

*' Why did you not also run away," Stanley asked of Selim," 
and leave your master to die ?" 

'* Oh, sir," said the Arab boy, naively, ** I was afraid you 
would whip me." 

It never occurred to the Arab magnates that Stanley had 
cause of complaint against them, it never occurred to them 
that he had a right to feel aggrieved at their conduct, for the 
base desertion of an ally who had, as a duty to friendship, tak- 
en up arms for their sake. Their "salaams" the next morn- 
ing after the retreat was given as if nothing had transpired to 
mar the good feeling that had existed between him and them. 
They were hardly seated, however, before he began to inform 
them that as the war was only between them and Mirambo, 
and that as he was afraid, if they began to run away after 
every little check, that the war might last a much longer time 
than he cared to lose, and that as they had deserted their 
wounded on the field, and left their sick friends to take care 
of themselves, they must not consider him in the light of an 
ally any more. . The Arabs protested that they had not in- 
tended to leave him, but that the^Wanyamwezi had raised the 
cry that the Musungu was gone, and the cry had caused a panic 
among their people, which it was impossible to allay. Later that 
day, they continued their retreat to Tabora, twenty-two miles 
distant from Mfuto. Stanley determined to proceed more 
leisurely, and on the second day after the flight from Zimbizo, 



HOW STAJS^UET FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 447 

his expedition, with all the stores and baggage, marched back 
to Masangi, and on the third day to Kwihara. 

One road to Ujiji had been tried, and had been found im- 
passable. The southern route was not well kno^vn to those 
about him; and they vaguely hinted of want of water and 
robber Wazavira as obstacles in the way. 

But before he could venture on this new route, he had to 
employ a new set of men, as those whom he took to Mfuto 
considered their engagement at an end, and the fact of five of 
their number being killed rather damped their ardor for trav- 
eling. It was useless to hope that Wanyamwezi could be en- 
gaged, because it was against their custom to go with caravans, 
as carriers, during war-times. His position was most serious; 
but although he had a good excuse for returning to the coast, 
he felt that he must die sooner than return. 

While Stanley was still uncertain what to do, or how to pro- 
cure a sufficient number of pagazis, firing was heard from the 
direction of Tabora, where the Arabs were still encamped. 
Some of the men who were sent out to ascertain the cause 
came running back with the information that Mirambo had 
attacked Tabora with over two thousand men, and that a force 
of over one thousand Matuta, who had allied themselves with 
him for the sake of plunder, had come suddenly upon Tabora, 
attacking from opposite directions. Later in the clay, or about 
noon, the way was crowed with fugitives from Tabora, who 
were rushing to Kwihara for protection. From these people, 
Stanley received the sad information that the noble Khamis 
bin Abdullah, with many of his adherents, had been slain. 
Perceiving that his people were ready to stand by him, Stanley 
made preparations for defence by boring loop-holes for musk- 
ets into the stout clay walls of his tembe. They were made 
so quickly, and seemed so admirably adapted for the efficient 
defence of the tembe that his men got quite brave; and 
Wangwana refugees with guns in their hands, driven out of 
Tabora, asked to be admitted to this tembe to assist in its de- 
fence. Livingstone's men were also collected, and invited to 
help defend their master's goods against Mirambo 's supposed 
attack. By night, Stanley had one hundred and fifty armed 
men in his courtyard, stationed at every possible point where 
an attack was to be expected. The next day, Mirambo had 
threatened, he would come to Kwihara; Stanley hoped that 
he would come, and was resolved that if he came within range 
of an American rifle, it should be seen what virtue lies in 
American lead. 



HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 449 

The tembe was fortified so strongly that Stanley expressed 
it as his firm conviction that ten thousand Africans could not 
take it; four or five hundred Europeans without cannon, or 
fifty with its aid, he adds, might take it. But having expend- 
ed all this care, and waited so anxiously to give Mirambo a 
taste of American lead, that gentleman chose to avoid the 
place where such a reception had been prepared for him, and 
turned his attention to Mfuto. 

While he was anxiously gathering up a sufiicient number of 
men to transport his necessary baggage to Ujiji, Stanley received 
a present. This was nothing less than a little boy slave, named 
Ndugu M'hali. The name did not suit his fancy, and he called 
the chiefs of his caravan together and asked them to choose a 
better one. Various names were suggested, but Ulimengo, 
after looking at his quick eyes, and noting his celerity of 
movement, pronounced the name " Ka-lu-lu " best for him, 
"Because," said he, "just look at his eyes! So bright! Look 
at his form! So slim! Watch his movements ! So quick!" 

"Yes, bana," said the others, "let it be Kalulu." 

Kalulu is a Kisawahili term for the young of the blue-buck 
antelope. 

"Well, then," said Stanlej^ water being brought in a huge 
tin pan, Selim, who was willing to stand god-father, holding 
him over the water, " let his name henceforth be Kalulu, and 
let no man take it from him." 

The next day, (Sept. 8) word was received that Mirambo 
had attacked Mfuto; the result of the engagement Y*^as not 
told until the next day, when the welcome news was received 
that Mirambo had been repulsed with severe loss. From this 
point forward, Mirambo had but little terror for the people at 
Kwihara, and Stanley was able to carry on his work of getting 
ready for the journy to Ujiji, unhindered by any circumstance 
except the sickness of Shaw and Selim. 

A farewell banquet was given on the 17th; two bullocks 
were barbecued; three sheep, two goats, and fifteen chickens, 
one hundred and twenty pounds of rice, twenty large loaves 
made of Indian corn flour, one hundred eggs, ten pounds of 
butter, and five gallons of sweet milk were the contents of 
which the banquet was formed. 

But an attack of fever compelled Stanley to postpone his 
departure. The solitude of his sick-chamber was cheered by 
an inquiry from Shaw, as to whom he should write in case 
Stanley should die. Shaw had already told Selim that Stan- 
ley would die like a donkey; that he would then take charge 



HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 451 

of his journals and trunks and proceed to the coast immedi- 
ately. Later on, he appears to have changed this plan, for he 
announced his intention to stock the yard of the tembe full of 
chickens, in order to be able to get fresh eggs every day, and 
buy a cow, so that he might have plenty of milk. Unfortu- 
nately for Mr. Shaw's castles in the air, Mr. Stanley did not 
die. 

The iOth of September arrived. Stanley was still very weak 
from the fever of the day before, and it was a most injudicious 
act to commence a march under such circumstances. But he 
had boasted to Sheikh bin Nasib that a white man never 
breaks his word, and his reputation as a white man would 
have been ruined if he had stayed behind or postponed the 
march, in consequence of feebleness. 

His caravan numbered fifty-four souls besides himself. The 
goods with which he had burdened them consisted of four 
thousand yards of cloth, six bags of beads, four loads of am- 
munition, one tent, one bed and clothes, one box of medicine, 
sextant and books, two loads of tea, coffee, and sugar, one 
load of flower and candles, one load of canned meats, sardines, 
and miscellaneous necessaries, and one load of cooking uten- 
sils. 

A parting salute was fired; the flags were raised by the 
guides, each pagazi rushed for his load, and in a short time, 
with songs and shouts, the head of the expedition had filed 
round the western end of the tembe along the road to Ugunda. 

Considerable difficulty was experienced with Shaw, who 
much preferred to stay where he was; and after several days' 
journey he was sent back. The traveler also had trouble, dur- 
ing the early part of his march, to keep his men together, sev- 
eral attempting to desert. 

The march was without other incidents for several days. It 
was Oct. 2 that they caught sight of a herd of giraffes, whose 
long necks were seen towering above a bush they had been 
nibbling at. This sight was greeted with a shout, for they 
now knew that they had entered the game country, and that 
near the Gombe, where they intended to halt, they would find 
plenty of these animals. 

Three hours brought them to Manyara. Arriving before the 
village-gate, they were forbidden to enter, as the country was 
throughout in a state of war, and the villagers did not wish to 
be compromised. The travelers were directed to ruined huts 
outside the town, near a pool of clear water. After they had 
built their camp, the guide was sent to buy food; he was in- 



452 HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 

formed that the chief had forbidden his people to sell any 
grain whatever. Two royal cloths were selected, and sent by 
Bombay to propitiate the chief ; but proved useless ; and all 
the caravan went supperless to bed. 

The bale of choice cloths was opened again the next morn- 
ing and four royal cloths were this time selected, and two dotis 
of Merikani, and Bombay was again dispatched, burdened with 
compliments and polite words. It was necessary to be very 
politic with a man who was so surly, and too powerful to make 
an enemy of. What if he made up his mind to imitate the re- 
doubtable Mirambo, king of Uyoweh ! The effect of Stanley's 
munificent liberality was soon seen in the abundance of prov- 
ender which came into the camp. Before an hour went by, 
there came boxes full of choroko, beans, rice, matama or 
dourra, and Indian corn, carried on the heads of a dozen vil- 
lagers; and shortly afterward the Mtemi himself came, follow- 
ed by about thirty musketeers and twenty spearmen, to visit 
the first white man ever seen on this road. Behind these war- 
riors came a liberal gift, fully equal in value to that sent to 
him, of several large gourds of honey, fowls, goats, and enough 
vetches and beans to supply the caravan with four days' 
food. 

Stanley met the chief at the gate of his camp, and, bowing 
profoundly, invited him to his tent , which he had arranged as well 
as his circumstances would permit, for this reception. His 
Persian carpet and bear skin were spread out, and a broad 
piece of bran-new crimson cloth covered his kitanda, or bed- 
stead. 

The chief, a tall, robust man, and his chieftains were invited 
to seat themselves. They cast a look of such gratified sur- 
prise at their host, his face, his clothes, and guns, as it is im- 
possible to describe. They looked at him intently for a few 
seconds, and then at each other, which ended in an uncon- 
trollable burst of laughter, and repeated snappings of the fin- 
gers. After a short period expended in exchanging compli- 
ments, the chief desired Stanley to show him his guns. The 
Winchester rifle elicited a thousand flattering observations 
from the excited man; and the tiny deadly revolvers, whose 
beauty and workmanship they thought were superhuman, 
evoked such gratified eloquence that the American was glad to 
try something else. The double-barreled guns fired with 
heavy charges of powder caused them to jump up in aifected 
alarm, and then to subside to their seats convulsed with 
laughter. As the enthusiasm of the guests increased, they 



HOW STANLEY FOUITO LIVINGSTOKE. 453 

seized each other's index fingers, screwed them and pulled 
at them until the host feared they would end in their disloca- 
tion. After having explained to them the difference between 
white men and Arabs, Stanley pulled out his medicine chest, 
which evoked another burst of rapturous sighs at the cunning 
neatness of the array of vials. He asked what they meant. 

*' Doiva,^^ replied Stanley, sententiously ; a word which may 
be interpreted, medicine. 

*' Oh-h, oh-h," they murmured, admiringly. The white man 
succeeded, ere long, in winning unqualified admiration; and 
his superiority, compared with the best of the Arabs they had 
seen, was but too evident. " Doiua^ dowa^'^ they added. 

*' Here," said Stanley, uncorking a vial of medicinal brandy, 
" is the Kisungu pombe (white man's beer) ; take a spoonful 
and try it," at the same time handing it. 

'•^ Hacht, Jiacht, oh, hacht! What! Eh! What strong beer 
the white men have ! Oh, how my throat burns ! " 

'*Ah, but it is good," said Stanley; "a little of it makes 
men feel strong and good; but too much of it makes men bad, 
and they die." 

"Let me have some," said one of the chiefs; and the re- 
quest was echoed until all had asked. 

The exhibitor next produced a bottle of concentrated ammo- 
nia, which he explained was for snake-bites, and headaches; 
the sultan immediately complained he had a headache, and 
must have a little. Telling him to close his eyes, Stanley sud- 
denly uncorked the bottle, and presented it to his majesty's 
nose. The effect was magical, for he fell back as if shot, and 
such contortions as his features underwent are indescribable. 
His chiefs roared with laughter, and clapped their hands, 
pinched each other, snapped their fingers, and did many other 
ludicrous things. Finally the sultan recovered himself, great 
tears rolling down his cheeks, and his features quivering with 
laughter; then he suddenly uttered the word " KaJi,'^ strong, 
quick, or ardent medicine. He required no more; but the 
other chiefs pushed forward to get one wee sniff, which they 
no sooner had than all went into paroxysms of uncontrollable 
laughter. The entire morning was passed in this state visit, to 
the satisfaction of all concerned. 

" Oh," said the sultan at parting, " these white men know 
everything! The Arabs are dirt compared to them." 

October 4, they left their camp here, and traveled toward 
Gombe, which is four hours and a quarter from Manyara. 
Here, at last, was the hunter's paradise. Hunters were now 



HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 455 

directed to proceed east and north to procure meat, because 
in each caravan it generally happens that there are fundi, 
whose special trade is to hunt for meat for the camp. Some 
of these are experts in stalking, but often find themselves in 
dangerous positions, owing to the near approach necessary be- 
fore they can fire their most inaccurate weapons with any de- 
gree of certainty. 

We have not space here to detail Stanley's prowess in hunt- 
ing, since it brought nothing of special adventure; we must 
pass on to a more dangerous incident. 

The caravan remained two days at this camping-place, the 
hunters procuring plenty of meat, which the others cut and 
sliced so that it might be dried for future use; and even 
then the meat-loving, lazy Wang^vana did not wish to go. 
They delegated Bombay early in the morning of the 7th to speak 
to Stanley, and entreat him to stop one day longer. Bombay 
was well scolded for bearing any such request after two days' 
rest; and Bombay was by no means in the best of humors; 
flesh-pots full of m.eat were more to his taste than a constant 
tramping, and its consequent fatigues. Stanley saw his face 
settle into sulky ugliness, and his great nether lip hanging down 
limp, which means, as if expressed in so many words: 

'* Well, get them to move yourself, you wicked, hard man! 
I shall not help you." 

An ominous silence followed Stanley's order to the kirango- 
zi to sound the horn, and the usual singing and chanting were 
not heard. The men turned sullenly to their bales, and As- 
mani, the gigantic guide, was heard to say grumblingly that he 
was sorry he had engaged to guide the Musungu to the Tan- 
ganyika. However, they started, though reluctantly. Stanley 
stayed behind with the gun-bearers, to drive the stragglers on. 
In about half an hour he sighted the caravan at a dead stop, 
with the bales thrown on the ground, and the men standing in 
groups talking angrily and excitedly. 

Taking his double-barreled gun from Selim's shoulder, he se- 
lected a dozen charges of buckshot, and slipping two of them 
into the barrels, and adjusting his revolvers in order for handy 
work, he walked on toward them. He noticed that the men 
seized their guns as he advanced. When within thirty yards 
of the groups, he discovered the heads of two men appear 
above an ant-hill on his left, with the barrels of their guns 
carelessly pointed toward the road. 

He halted, threw the barrel of his gun into the hollow of 
the left hand, and then, taking a deliberate aim at them, threat- 



HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 457 

ened to blow their heads off if they did not come forward to 
talk to him. These two men were gigantic Asmani, and his 
sworn companion Mabruki, the guides of Sheikh bin Na- 
sib. As it was dangerous not to comply with such an order, 
they presently came; but keeping his eye on Asmani, Stanley 
saw him move his fingers to the trigger of his gun, and bring 
his gun to a "ready." Again the white man lifted his gun, 
and threatened him with instant death, if he did not drop his 
musket. 

Asmani came on in a sidelong way, with a smirking smile on 
his face, but in his eyes shone the lurid light of murder as 
plainly as it ever shone in a villain's eyes. Mabruki sneaked 
to Stanley's rear, deliberately putting powder in the pan of his 
musket; but sweeping the gun sharply around, the Musungu 
planted the muzzle of it about two feet from his wicked-look- 
ing face, and ordered him to drop his gun instantly. He let it 
fall from his hand quickly; and, giving him a vigorous poke in 
the stomach with the double-barrel, which sent him reeling a 
few feet, Stanley turned to Asmani, and ordered him to put 
his gun down ; accompanying the order with a nervous move- 
ment of his own weapon, pressing gently on the trigger at the 
same time. Never was a man nearer his death than was As- 
mani during those few moments. The white man was reluctant 
to shed his blood, and he was willing to try all possible means 
to avoid doing so ; but if he did not succeed in cowing this ruf- 
fian, authority was at an end. The truth was, they feared to 
proceed farther on the road, and the only possible way of in- 
ducing them to move was by an overpowering force and exer- 
cise of his power and will in this instance, even though he 
might pay the penalty of his disobedience with death. As Stan- 
ley was beginning to feel that Asmani had passed his last 
moment on earth, as he was lifting his gun to his shoulder, a 
form came up behind him, and Mabruki Speke cried in horror- 
struck accents : 

" Man, how dare you point your gun at the master?" 

Mabruki then threw himself at Stanley's feet, and endeav- 
ored to kiss them, and entreated him not to punish him : 

" It is all over now," he said, ** there will be no more quar- 
reling ; we will all go to the Tanganyika, without any more noise ; 
and Lishallali ! we shall find the old Musungu at Ujiji ! Speak, 
men, freedmen, shall we not? Shall we not go to the Tan- 
ganyika without any more trouble? Tell the master with one 
voice." 

^^ Ay Wallah! Ay Wallah! Banayango! Hamuna man- 



458 HOW STAlSXEr FOUKD LIVINGSTONE. 

neno mginil'^ which, being literally translated, means: 

"Yes, by God! Yes, by God! my master! There are no 
other words." 

"Ask the master's pardon, man, or go thy way," said Ma- 
bruki, peremptorily, to Asmani; which Asmani did, to the 
gratification of them all. It only remained for Stanley to ex- 
tend -a general pardon to all, except to Bombay and Ambari, 
the instigators of the mutiny, which was now happily quelled. 
For Bombay could by a word, as the captain, have nipped all 
manifestation of bad temper at the outset, had he been so dis- 
posed. But no, Bombay was more averse to marching than 
the cowardliest of his fellows, not because he was cowardly, 
but because he loved indolence, and made a god of his belly. 
So, snatching up a spear, Stanley laid its staff vigorously on 
Bombay's shoulders, and then sprang upon Ambari, whose 
mocking face soon underwent a remarkable transformation; 
and then clapped them both in chains, with a threat that they 
would be kept chained until they knew how to ask their mast- 
er's pardon. Asmani and Mabruki were told to be cautious 
not to exhibit their ugly tempers any more, lest they might 
taste the death they had so fortunately escaped. 

Again the word was given to march, and each man, with 
astonishing alacrity, seized his load, and filed off quickly out 
of sight; Bombay and Ambari in the rear in chains, with Kin- 
garu and Asmani, the deserters, weighted with the heaviest 
loads. They had barely traveled an hour from the Gombe be- 
fore Bombay and Ambari in trembling accents implored their 
master's pardon ; he permitted them to continue for half an 
hour longer, when he finally relented, releasing them both 
from their chains, and restoring Bombay to his full honors as 
captain. 

They traveled fourteen days in a southwesterly direction, 
and Stanley intended to have gone still further south; but 
rumors of war on the path before them induced him to change 
this plan. After consulting with Asmani, the guide, he de- 
cided to strike across toward the Tanganyika, on a west-by- 
north course through the forest, traveling, when it was advan- 
tageous, along elephant tracks and local paths. 

All were firm friends now; all squabbling had long ceased. 
Bombay and his master had forgotten their quarrel ; the hir- 
angozi and Stanley were ready to embrace. Confidence re- 
turned to all hearts; for now, as Mabruki Unyanyembe said: 
"They could smell the fish of the Tanganyika." 

They were now in a country where the most dangerous ani- 



HOW STAKLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 459 

mals were to be found; Stanley had already seen the first herd 
of elephants in their native wilds; and their camp on the 
Mtambu proved to be near the lairs of leopards and of lions. 
As some of the men were taking the two donkeys to water 
from this camp, a leopard sprang upon one of the animals, 
and fastened its claws in his throat. The frightened donkey 
began to bray so loudly, and was so warmly assisted by its 
companions, that the leopard bounded away through the 
brake, as if in sheer dismay at the noisy cries which the attack 
had provoked. The donkey's neck exhibited some frightful 
wounds, but the animal was not dangerously hurt. 

Stanley, thinking that possibly he might meet with an ad- 
venture with a lion or leopard in that dark belt of tall trees, 
took a stroll along that awesome place with the gun-bearer, 
Kalulu, carrying an extra supply of ammunition and an addi- 
tional gun. But after an hour's search for adventure he had 
encountered nothing, and strolled further in search of some- 
thing to shoot. Presently he saw a huge wild boar feeding 
quietly at some distance from him. He got two shots at this 
animal, but his bullets were not heavy enough to penetrate his 
thick hide and do any material damage, so that the boar es- 
caped. As it was now getting late, and the camp was three 
miles away, they were obliged to return without the meat. On 
their way to camp they were accompanied by a large animal 
which persistently followed them on their left. It was too 
dark to see plainly, but a large form was visible, if not very 
clearly defined. It must have been a lion. 

About eleven that night, they were startled by the roar of a 
lion very near the camp ; soon it was joined by another and 
another, and the novelty of the thing kept the white man 
awake. He endeavored to sight a rifle; but the cartridges 
might as well have been filled with sawdust for all the benefit 
which he derived from them. Disgusted with the miserable 
ammunition, he left the lions alone, and turned in, with their 
roar as a lullaby. 

November 3, being then in Uvinza, they saw a caravan which 
came from the direction of Ujiji, consisting of about eighty 
Waguhha. They asked the news, and were told that a white 
man had just arrived at Ujiji from Manyuema. This news 
startled them all. 

'* A white man?" Stanley asked. 

"Yes, a white man," was the reply. 

*'How is he dressed?" 

"Like the master," they said, referring to Stanley. 



HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 461 

^' Is he young or old?" 

" He is old. He has white hair on his face, and he is sick." 

'* Where has he come from?" 

" From a very far country away beyond Uguhha, called Man- 
yuema." 

" Indeed! And is he stopping at Ujiji now?" 

'' Yes, we saw him about eight days ago." 

" Do you think he will stop tliere until we see him?" 

'' Sigue'' (don't know). 

'' Was he ever at Ujiji before? 

*' Yes, he went away a long time ago." 

It must be Livingstone. It can be no other; but still — he 
may be some one else — some one from the west coast — or 
perhaps he is Baker. No, Baker has no white hairs on his 
face. But they must now march quickly, lest he hears that 
they are coming, and runs away. Stanley addressed his men, 
and asked them if they were willing to march to Ujiji without 
41 single halt: and then promised them, if they acceded to his 
wishes, two doti for each man. All answered in the affirma- 
tive, almost as much rejoiced as he was himself. But he was 
madly rejoiced, intensely eager to solve the burning question : 
'* Is it Dr. Livingstone?" He did wish there was a railroad, 
or at least horses in this country; with ahorse he could reach 
Ujiji in about twelve hours. 

But the time necessary was much longer than this. They 
must pass through Uhha, and there they were subject to numy 
delays. The messenger of the king demanded honga^ or trib- 
ute, to an enormous extent. After considerable haggling, this 
was paid; a few miles further on, the king himself demanded 
honga^ and denied all knowledge of his supposed agent. This, 
too, had to be paid. Yet farther, the king's brother required 
Jionga, for he was almost as powerful as the king. 

Upon consultation with his chief men, Stanley decided that 
the only way to escape absolute penury as the result of a journey 
through Uhha, was to keep away from the villages and roads, 
and, trusting only to the compass, plunge boldly into the for- 
ests and make their way, by a hitherto untrodden path, out of 
the country. Provisions sufficient to last six days were pur- 
chased, the guides were given an extra douceur, orders for the 
strictest silence throughout the march were issued, and the 
caravan marched. 

They stole out of their camp near a village at 3 A. M. ; and 
by 8 had reached the Rusugi, where they camped in a clump 
of jungle near its banks. An hour after they had rested, some 



462 HOW STAXLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 

natives, carrying salt from the Malagarazi, were seen com- 
ing up the right bank of the river. When abreast of the 
hiding-phice they detected the strangers, and dropping their 
salt-bags, they ran to give the alarm to the neighboring vil- 
lages, four miles away. The men were immediately order- 
ed to take up their loads, and in a few minutes they had cross- 
ed the Rusugi, and were making direct for a bamboo jungle 
which appeared in their front. Almost as soon as they enter- 
ed, a weak-brained woman raised a series of piercing yells. 
The men were appalled at this noisy demonstration, which 
would call down upon their heads the vengeance of the Wahha 
for evading the tribute to which they thought themselves en- 
titled. In half an hour they would have hundreds of howling 
savages about them in the jungle, and probably a general mas- 
sacre would ensue. The woman screamed fearfully, again and 
again, for no cause whatever. Some of the men with the in- 
stinct of self-preservatipn, at once dropped their bales and 
their loads, and vanished into the jungle. The guide came 
rushing back to Stanley, imploring him to stop her noise. The 
woman's husband, livid with rage and fear, drew his sword, 
and asked his master's permission to cut off her head at once. 
Had Stanley given the least signal, the woman had paid for 
her folly with her life. He attempted to hush her cries by 
putting his hand over her mouth, but she violently wrestled 
with him, and continued her cries worse than ever. There re- 
mained nothing else for him to do but to try the virtues of his 
whip over her shoulders. He asked her to desist after the first 
blow. No! She continued her insane cries with increased 
force and volume. Again his whip descended upon her should- 
ers. "No, no, no!" Another blow. "Will you hush?" "No, 
no, no!" Louder and faster she cried, and faster and faster 
he showered the blows for the taming of this shrew. How- 
ever, seeing he was as determined to flog as she was to cry, she 
desisted before the tenth blow, and was silent. A cloth was 
folded over her mouth, and her arms were tied behind her; 
and in a few moments, the runaways having returned to their 
duties, the expedition moved forward again with redoubled 
pace. 

Still keeping silence, they at last passed through Guhha, 
and were out of danger of extortion. They arrived at a point 
whence the Tangan3aka could be seen, November 10. It was 
the fifty-first day after leaving Unyanyembe, and the two hun- 
dred and thirty-sixth after leaving Bagamoyo. They now push- 
ed on rapidly, lest the news of their coming might reach the 



HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 463 

people of Bunder Ujiji before they came in sight and were 
ready for them. They halt at a little brook, then ascend the long 
slope of a naked ridge, the very last of the myriads they have 
crossed. They arrive at the summit, travel across and arrive 
at its western rim, and the port of Ujiji is below them, em- 
bowered in the palms, only five hundred yards from them. 
Their hearts and feelings are with their eyes, as they peer 
into the palms and try to make out in which hut or house lives 
the white man with the gray beard they heard about on the 
Mai agar azi. 

'' Unfurl the flags, and load your guns!" 

^^Ay Wallah, Ay Wallah, banaf' respond the men, eagerly. 

" One — two — three — fire ! " 

A volley from nearly fifty guns roars like a salute from a 
battery of artillery; we shall note its effect presently on the 
peaceful-looking village below, 

'^^ow, kirangozi, hold the white man's flag up high, and 
let the Zanzibar flag bring up the rear. And you men keep 
close together and keep firing until we halt in the market-place, 
or before the white nian's house. You have said to me often 
that you could smell the fish of the Tanganyika — I can smell 
the fish of the Tanganyika now. There are fish, and beer, and 
a long rest waiting for you. MAECH. " 

Before they had gone a hundred jards their repeated volleys 
had had the effect desired. They had awakened Ujiji to the 
knowledge that a caravan was coming, and the people were 
witnessed rushing up in hundreds to meet them. The mere 
sight of the flags informed every one at once that they were a 
caravan, but the American flag born aloft by gigantic Asmani, 
whose face was one vast smile on this day, rather staggered 
them at first. However, many of the people who now ap- 
proached them remembered the flag. They had seen it float 
over the American consulate and from the mast of many a ship 
in the harbor of Zanzibar; and they were soon welcoming the 
beautiful flag with cries of ^'Bindera Kisuggu! — a white man's 
flag ! Binder a Merikani — the American flag ! ' ' 

Then the newcomers were surrounded by them; by Wajiji, 
Wanyamwezi, Wangwana, Warundi, Waguhha, Wamanyuemg, 
and Arabs, and were almost deafened with shouts of " Yam- 
bo^ yamho, banal Yambo, banal Yambo bana! To all and 
each of Stanley's men the welcome was given. 

They were now about three hundred yards from the village 
of Ujiji, and the crowds were dense about them. Suddenly 
Stanley heard a voice on his right say: 



464 HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 

*' Good morning, sir." 

Startled at hearing this greeting in the midst of such a 
crowd of black people, he turns sharply around in search of 
the man, and sees him at his side, with the blackest of faces, 
but animated and joyous — a man dressed in a long white shirt, 
with a turban of American sheeting around his woolly head ; 
and he asks : 

*' Who the mischief are you?" 

" I am Susi, the servant of Dr. Livingstone," said he, smil- 
ing and showing a gleaming row of teeth. 

** What! Is Dr. Livingstone here?" 

*' Yes, sir." 

*' In this village?" 

** Yes, sir." 

*' Are you sure?" 

'* Sure, sure, sir. Why, I leave him just now." 

** Good morning, sir," said another voice. 

'* Hallo," said Stanley. '* Is this another one?" 

*' Yes, sir." 

** Well, what is your name?" 

** My name is Chuma, sir." 

'* What, are you Chuma, the friend of Wekotani?" 

*'Yes, sir." 

*' And is the doctor well?" 

*'Not very well, sir." 

*' Where has he been so long?" 

* ' In Manyuema. ' ' 

** Now you, Susi, run and tell the doctor I am coming." 

*' Yes, sir;" and off he darted like a madman. 

But by this time they were within two hundred yards of the 
village, and the multitude was getting denser, and almost pre- 
venting their march. Flags and streamers were out ; Arabs and 
Wangwana were pushing their way through the natives in or- 
der to greet the new-comers ; for according to their account, 
the strangers belonged to them. But the great wonder of all 
was: 

" How did you come from Unyanyembe?" 

Soon Susi came running back, and asked Stanley his name; 
he had told the doctor that a white man was coming, but the 
doctor was too surprised to believe him; and when asked the 
white man's name, Susi was rather staggered. But duringSusi's 
absence, the news had been conveyed to the doctor that it was 
surely a white man that was coming, whose guns were firing 
and whose flag could be seen ; and the great Arab magnates of 



HOW STAJ^LEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 465 

Ujiji had gathered together before the doctor's house, and the 
doctor had come out from his veranda to discuss the matter 
and await his arrival. 

In the meantime, the head of the expedition had halted, 
and the kirangozi was out of the ranks, holding his flag aloft; 
and Selim said to his master : 

*'I see the doctor, sir. Oh, what an old man! He has got a 
white beard." 

And Stanley — what would he not have given for a bit of 
friendly wilderness, where he might vent his joy in some mad 
freak, such as idiotically biting his hand, turning a somersault, 
or slashing at trees, in order to allay those exciting feelings 
that were well nigh incontrollable. His heart beats fast, but 
he must not let his face betray his emotions, lest it shall de- 
tract from the dignity of a white man appearing under such 
extraordinary circumstances. 

So he did that which he thought was most dignified. He 
pushed back the crowds, and passing from the rear, walked 
down a living avenue of people, until he came in front of the 
semi-circle of Arabs, in the front of which stood the white 
man with the gray beard. As he advanced slowly toward him, 
he noticed that the great explorer was pale, looked wearied, 
had a gray beard, wore a bluish cap with a faded gold band 
round it, had on a red-sleeved waistcoat, and a pair of gray 
tweed trousers. Stanley would have run to him, only he says, 
*' I Avas a coward in the presence of such a mob — would have 
embraced him, only, he being an Englishman, I did not know 
how he would receive me ; so I did what cowardice and false 
pride suggested was the best thing — walked deliberately to 
him, took off my hat, and said : 

*' ' Dr. Livingstone, I presume?' " 

*' Yes," said he, with a kind smile, lifting his cap slightly. 

Stanley replaced his hat on his head, and Livingstone put 
on his cap ; and they bbth grasped hands ; and Stanley then 
said aloud : 

'*I thank God, Doctor, that I have been permitted to see 
you.'; 

"I feel thankful, replied Livingstone, "that I am here to 
welcome you." 

Stanley turned to the Arabs, took off his hat to them in re- 
sponse to the saluting chorus of " Yamhos'' he received, and the 
doctor introduced them to him byname. Then oblivious of the 
crowds, oblivious of the men who had shared dangers with 
him, Livingstone and Stanley turned their faces toward the 



HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 467 

elder man's tembe. They are seated with their backs to the 
wall. The Arabs take seats on their left. More than a thou- 
sand natives are in front of them, filling the whole square 
densely, indulging their curiosity, and discussing the fact of 
two white men meeting at Ujiji — one just come from Manyue- 
ma, in the west, and one from Unyanyembe in the east. 

Conversation began; questions innumerable, yet of the sim- 
plest kind; then Livingstone began to tell the story of his 
travels, while Stanley listened entranced. The Arabs rose with a 
delicacy of which the white men approved, as if they intuitive- 
ly knew that they ought to be left to themselves. Stanley sent 
Bombay with them, to give them the news they also wanted so 
much to know about the affairs at Unyanyembe ; they all had 
friends there, and it was but natural that they should be anx- 
ious to hear of what concerned them. 

Presently Stanley called to him the man who had charge of 
Dr. Livingstone's letter bag, and bade him deliver it to the 
master. The doctor kept the letter-bag on his knee, then, 
presently, opened it, looked at the letters contained there, 
and read one or two of his children's letters, his face in the 
meanwhile lighting up. He asked Stanley to tell him the news. 

" No, doctor," was the reply, " read your letters first, which 
I am sure you must be impatient to read." 

*' Ah," said he, " I have waited j^ears for letters, and I have 
been taught patience. I can surely afford to wait a few hours 
longer. No, tell me the general news: how is the world get- 
ting along?" 

" You probably know much already. Do you know that the 
Suez canal is a fact — is opened, and a regular trade carried on 
between Europe and India through it?" 

'' I did not hear about the opening of it. Well, that is grand 
news! What el^e?" 

Shortly, Stanley found himself acting the part of an annual 
periodical to him. There was no need of any exaggeration — 
of any penny-a-line news, or of any sensationalism. The 
Avorld had witnessed and experienced much during the past few 
years. The Pacific railroad had been completed; Grant had 
been elected President of the United States ; Egypt had been 
flooded with savans ; the Cretan Rebellion had been termina- 
ted ; a Spanish Revolution had driven Isabella from the throne 
of Spain, and a regent had been appointed; General Prim 
was assassinated ; a Castelar had electrified Europe with his 
advanced ideas upon the liberty of worship ; Prussia had hum- 
bled Denmark, and annexed Schleswig-Holstein, and her ar- 
30 



468 HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 

mies were now around Paris ; the "Man of Destiny" was a pris- 
oner at Wilhelmshohe ; the Queen of Fashion and the Em- 
press of the French was a fugitive ; and the child born in the 
purple had lost forever the imperial crown intended for his 
head; the Napoleon dynasty was extinguished by the Prus- 
sians, Bismarck and Von Moltke; and France, the proud em- 
pire, was humbled to the dust. What could a man have ex- 
aggerated of these facts ? What a budget of news it was to 
one who had emerged from the depths of the primeval forests 
of Manyuema ! 

Not long after the Arabs had left them, a dish of hot hash- 
ed meat-cakes was sent by Sayd bin Majid, and a curried 
chicken was received from Mahammed bin Sali, and Moeni 
Kheri sent a dishful of stewed goat-meat and rice; and thus 
presents of food came in succession, and as fast as they were 
brought the recipients set to. Stanley had a healthy, stubborn 
digestion — the exercise he had taken had put it into prime or- 
der ; but Livingstone — he had been complaining that he had no 
appetite, that his stomach refused everything except a cup of 
tea now and then — he ate also; ate like a vigorous, hungry 
man; and as he vied with his guest in demolishing the pan- 
cakes, he kept repeating: 

" You have brought me new life. You have brought me 
new life." 

*'0h, by George I" said Stanley; "I have forgotten some- 
thing. Hasten, Selim, and bring that bottle; you know which ; 
and bring me the silver goblets. I brought that bottle on pur- 
pose for this event, which I hoped would come" to pass, 
though often it seemed useless to expect it. 

Selim knew where the bottle was, and he soon returned 
with it — a bottle of Sillery champagne ; and handing the doc- 
tor a goblet brimful of the exhilarating wine, and pouring a 
small quantity into his own, the young man said : 

*' Dr. Livingstone, to your very good health, sir." 

" And to yours," he responded. 

But they kept on talking, and talking, and prepared food 
was being brought to them all that afternoon; and they kept 
on eating every time it was brought, until even Stanley had 
eaten to repletion, and Livingstone was obliged to confess that 
he had eaten enough. Halimah, the female cook of the doc- 
tor's establishment, was in a state of the greatest excitement. 
She had been protruding her head out of the cook-house to 
make sure that there were really two white men sitting down 
in the veranda, where there used to be only one, who would 



' HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 469 

not because he could not eat anything ; and she had been cgn- 
siderably exercised in her mind about this fact. She was 
afraid the doctor did not properly appreciate her culinary abili- 
ties ; but now she was in a state of amazement at the extra- 
ordinary quantities of food eaten. Poor faithful soul! The 
doctor told his guest of the terrible anxiety she evinced when 
the guns first announced the arrival of another white man in 
Ujiji; how she was in despair at the scantiness of the larder, 
how she was anxious to make up for their poverty by a grand 
appearance — to make up a sort of Barmecide feast to welcome 
the white man. 

"Why," said she, "is he not one of us? Does he not bring 
plenty of cloth and beads? Talk about the Arabs ! Who are 
they that they should be compared to white men? Arabs, 
indeed!" 

As yet. Dr. Livingstone was not aware of the reason why 
Stanley had come to the heart of Africa. He had thought, 
when it was first told him that a white man was approaching, 
that it might be the successor of Lieut. Le Saint, an emissary 
of the French government who had died near Gondokoro: 
and the thought that he could not speak French, and that pos- 
sibly the new-comer could not speak English, had troubled 
him not a little. They would have been a pretty pair of white 
men in Ujiji! It was not until the day after his arrival, that 
Stanley told the whole story — how he had been sent by Ben- 
nett especially to FIND LIVINGSTONE. 

A comparison of notes made the younger traveler extremely 
thankful that he had made so long a detour before beginning his 
African journey. Supposing that he had gone direct from Paris 
to Zanzibar, seven or eight months afterward, perhaps, he would 
have found himself at Ujiji. But Livingstone would not have 
been found there then; he would have been on the Lua- 
laba; and Stanley would have had to follow him on his 
devious tracks through the primeval forests of Manyuema, 
and up along the crooked course of the Lualaba for hundreds 
of miles. The time taken by Stanley in traveling up the Nile, 
back to Jerusalem, then to Constantinople, Southern Russia, 
the Caucasus, and Persia, was employed by Livingstone in 
fruitful discoveries west of the Tanganyika. Again, consider 
that Stanley arrived at Unyanyembe in the latter part of June, 
and that owing to a war he was delayed three months in Un- 
yanyembe, leading a fretful, peevish, and impatient life. But 
while he was thus fretting himself and being delayed by a 
series of accidents, Livingstone was being forced back to 



470 HOW STANLEY FOUIST) LIVINGSTONE. 

Ujiji in the same month. It took him from June to October 
to march to Ujiji. Now, in September, Stanley broke loose 
from the thraldom which accident had imposed upon him, and 
hurried southward to Ukonongo, then westward to Kawendi, 
then northward to Uvinza, then westward to Ujiji, only about 
three weeks after the doctor's arrival, to find him resting on 
the veranda of his house with his face turned eastward, the 
direction from which his seeker was to come. 

The days came and went peacefully and happily under the 
palms of Ujiji. The missionary was improving in health and 
spirits. Life had been brought back to him; his fading 
vitality was restored, his enthusiasm for his work was growing 
up again into a desire that was compelling him to be again up 
and doing. But what could he do, with five men and fifteen 
or twenty cloths? 

"Have you seen the northern head of the Tanganyika, doc- 
tor?" Stanley asked one day. 

"No: I did try to go there, but the AVajiji tried their best 
to fleece me, as they did both Burton and Speke, and I had 
not a great deal of cloth. If I had gone to the head of the 
Tanganyika, I could not have gone to the Manyuema. The 
central line of drainage is most important, and that is the Lu- 
alaba. Before this line the question whether there is a connec- 
tion between the Tanganyika and the Albert Nyanza sinks into 
insignificance. The great line of drainage is the river flowing 
from latitude eleven degrees south, which I have followed for 
over seven degrees northward. The Chambezi, the name given 
to its most southern extremity, drains a large tract of country 
south of the southermost source of the Tanganyika; it must, 
therefore, be the most important. I have not the least doubt, 
myself, but that this lake is the Upper Tanganyika, and the 
Albert Nyanza of Baker is the Lower Tanganyika, which are 
connected by a river flowing from the upper to the lower. 
This is my belief, based upon reports of the Arabs, and a test 
I made of the flow with fresh-water plants. But I really never 
gave it much thought." 

"Well, if I jNrere you, doctor, before leaving L'jiji, I should 
explore it, and resolve the doubts upon the subject; lest, after 
you leave here, you should not return by this way. The Roj^al 
Geographical Society attach much importance to this supposed 
connection, and declare j^ou are the only man who can settle 
it. If I can be of any service to 3^ou, you may command me. 
Though I did not come to Africa as an explorer, I have a good 
deal of curiosity upon the subject, and should be willing to ac- 



HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 471 

company you. I have with me about twenty strong men who 
understand rowing; we have plenty of cloth, guns, and beads; 
and if we can get a canoe from the Arabs we can manage the 
thing easily." 

"Oh, we can get a canoe from Sayd bin Majid. This man 
has been very kind to me, and if ever there was an Arab gen- 
tleman, he is one." 

"Then it is settled, is it, that we go?" 

"I am ready, whenever you are." 

"I am at your command. Don't you hear my men call you 
the Great Master and me the Little Master? It would never 
do for the Little Master to command." 

Thus it was arranged that they should explore the Tangan- 
yika to its northern head. It should be noted that this con- 
versation represents Livingstone as expressing the belief that 
this lake was one of the sources of the Nile. A reference to 
the last chapter, a condensation of Livingstone's Last Journal, 
will show that he always believed that this was the case ; and 
that up to the time that he died, he was by no means assured 
that the Lualaba was not a tributary of the Nile. The idea 
had suggested itself to his mind that this river might be a 
feeder of the Congo, but it was a contradiction of his darling 
theory, and was only reluctantly entertained. 

During the stay at Ujiji, Stanley studied his host thoroughly, 
and learned how erroneous had been the estimate formed 
from Dr. Kirk's account of him. He saw for himself that the 
statement that he took no notes or kept no journal was false; 
and he learned to despise the insinuation that Livingstone was 
so crabbed and cross-grained that it required a very patient 
man (like Dr. Kirk) to avoid quarreling with him. Stanley's 
own servants noted the difference between the two men ; and 
since Stanley himself has recorded the observation, there can 
be no unkindliness to the younger explorer in here repeat- 
ing it. 

"Your master," said Stanley's servants to Livingstone's, 
"is a good man, a very good man; he does not beat you, for 
he has a kind heart; but ours — oh, he is sharp ! — hot as fire ! " 

Upon application to Sayd bin Majid, he at once generously 
permitted them to use his canoe for whatever purpose they 
might require it. After engaging two Wajiji guides, they pre- 
pared to sail from the port of Ujiji, a week or so after Stanley 
had reached that point. Sayd bin Majid had stated that his 
canoe would carry twenty-five men, and three thousand five 
hundred pounds of ivory ; but experiment showed that it would 



HOW STAN^LET FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 473 

not carry quite so great a load. Besides the two white men, 
there were sixteen rowers, Selim, Ferajji, and the two guides. 

The explorer had been told by many Arabs and natives that 
a river near the head of the lake flowed out of it — the Rusizi ; 
and this it was that they proposed to explore. The informa- 
tion w^as confirmed several times during their voyage, but as 
they drew near the northern end of Tanganyika, a very intelli- 
gent chief told them that the river flowed into the lake, and 
not out of it. This contradiction of the statement which Liv- 
ingstone wished to believe was verified by their own experi- 
ence; for although the current was very sluggish, its direction 
was undeniable. 

The question "Is the Rusizi an effluent or an influent?" was 
answered forever. There was now no doubt on that point. 
In size, it was not to be compared with the Malagarazi river, 
neither is it, nor can it be, navigable for anything but the 
smallest canoes. The only thing remarkable about it is that 
it abounds in crocodiles, but not one hippopotamus was seen; 
which may be taken as another evidence of its shallowness. 

December 8, they landed at a group of islets, three in num- 
ber, all very steep and rocky; the largest about three hundred 
feet in length at the base, and about two hundred feet in 
breadth. As these islands were with difficulty pronounced by 
Stanley as Kavunvweh, the doctor, seeing that they were the 
only objects they were likely to discover, named them "The 
New York ^e?'a/(i Islands ; " and in confirmation of the new 
designation given them, shook hands with the representative 
of that journal upon it. They arrived at Ujiji four days later, 
having traversed over three hundred miles of w^ater during 
their voyage of twenty-eight days. 

December 27, Stanley having persuaded Livingstone that it 
would be best for him to go to Unyanyembe and there obtain 
a new supply of goods, since the veteran explorer refused to 
return home for a rest until the sources of the Nile should 
have been discovered, the caravan left Ujiji. It was their in- 
tention for a part of their number, including the tw^o leaders, 
to coast along the shore of the lake as far south as Cape 
Tongwe, while the remainder of the force followed by a nearly 
parallel course on land. From this point they would strike 
across the country ; and by providing themselves with a stock of 
food on starting, and occasionally doing a little hunting on the 
way, they could make their way across to Unyanyembe with- 
out drawing near to a single village, and hence, without hav- 
ing to pay a single cloth for provisions and shelter. This 



HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 475 

route was marked out by Stanley, who had prepared, from his 
own observations, a chart of the country between the two 
places. 

Their voyage was not remarkable, save for the number of 
crocodiles that they saw along the banks, and for the herd of 
zebras which Stanley stalked, one of which fell with a bullet 
through his heart, while the others, alarmed, galloped off to 
a place of safety. The same hand, a little later, brought 
down a fine buffalo cow. This country abounded in game of 
every kind, and although Stanley did not hire from mercenary 
parents the pickaninny bait warranted to attract of which 
other hunters have not scrupled to avail themselves, sport was 
plentiful on all hands. 

On a hunting expedition shortly afterward, in which he was 
armed only with his Winchester, Stanley came full upon an 
immense bull-elephant. Recovering from his astonishment, he 
thought it prudent to retire ; and this appears to be his nearest 
approach to elephant-hunting on this journey. But then, it 
must be recollected that he does not narrate his adventures as 
a hunter, but rather those of a seeker for another man. If 
we may be permitted to paraphrase a famous expression, he 
was a hunter of men, as St. Peter was a fisher of men. It is 
for this reason, because he had something better to do, that 
we find few hunting stories told; and if he narrates no mavel- 
ous stories of being chased by buffalo or elephants, he usually 
bagged the game for which he went prepared. 

It was some days after this, and as they traveled, the sports- 
man had several times shot fine animals, that they came to 
their old quarters on the Gombe, a district which Stanley had 
already described as the hunter's paradise. The rain had 
scattered the greater number of the herds, but there was 
plenty of game in the vicinity. Soon after breakfast he took 
Khamisi and Kalulu with him for a hunt. After a long walk 
they arrived near a thin jungle, where he discovered the tracks 
of several animals — boar, antelope, elephant, rhinoceros, hip- 
popotamus, and an unusual number of imprints of the lion's 
paw. Suddenly he heard Khamisi say : 

" Master! Master! Here is a simha (lion) !" 

He came up to his master trembling with excitement and 
fear — for the young fellow was an arrant coward — to point out 
the head of a beast, which could just be seen across the tall 
grass, looking steadily at them. It immediately afterward 
bounded from side to side, but the grass was so high that it 
was impossible to tell exactly where it was. Taking advantage 



HOW STANLEY FOUND LlVlNOSTONE. ill 

of a tree in front, Stanley crept quietly onward, intending to 
rest the heavy rifle against it, as he was so weak from the ef- 
fects of several fevers that he felt himself utterly incapable of 
supporting the piece for a steady aim. But his surprise was 
great when he cautiously laid it against the tree, and then di- 
rected its muzzle to the spot where he had seen the lion stand. 
Looking further away, to where the grass was thin and scant, 
he saw the animal bound away at a great rate, and it was a 
lion; the noble monarch of the forest was in full flight! From 
that moment the hunter ceased to regard him as " the might- 
iest among the brutes," or his roar as anything more fearful in 
broad daylight than a sucking dove's. 

February 14, they arrived at Uganda, where they found no 
less than seven packets of letters and newspapers for Stanley, 
one containing some letters for Livingstone. The letters were 
of course read with much interest, but the papers were skim- 
med over, and those which contained merely news were laid 
aside for — Punch. 

While they were thus engaged, their doors were crowded 
with curious natives, who looked with indescribable wonder at 
the great sheets. Stanley heard them often repeat the words, 
" Khahari, Kisungu,'' — white man's news — and heard them 
discussing the nature of such a quantity of news, and express- 
ing their belief that the Wasungu \^QYQ very ^' mhyah sana,'' 
and '"^mhali,^' by which they meant to say that the white men 
were very wicked, and very smart and clever; though the term 
wicked is often used to express high admiration. 

Stanley bade farewell to Livingstone March 14, 1872; it was 
with much regret that he did so, for although their acquaint- 
ance had been but four months in duration, it had been so in- 
timate, and he had learned so to revere and love the elder 
man that it was as if he were leaving the tried friend of many 
years. 

Livingstone committed to Stanley's care his journal, proper- 
ly sealed, and many papers and letters. The box containing 
these precious documents was of course most jealously guard- 
ed ; but on one occasion it was run into danger. The caravan 
had arrived at the banks of the Mukondokwa Eiver. It had 
rained the whole night, and the morning brought no cessation. 
Mile after mile they traversed, over fields covered by the in- 
undation, until they came to a branch river-side once again, 
where the river was narrow, and too deep to ford in the mid- 
dle. They proceeded to cut a tree down, and so contrived that 
it should fall right across the stream. Over this fallen tree, 



HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 479 

the men, bestriding it, cautiously moved before them their 
bales and boxes; but one young fellow, Rojab, through over- 
zeal, or in sheer madness, took up the doctor's box which con- 
tained his letters and Journal of his discoveries on his head, 
and started into the river. Stanley had been the first to ar- 
rive on the opposite bank, in order to superintend the cross- 
ing, when he caught sight of this man walking in the river 
with the most precious box of all upon his head. Suddenly 
he fell into a deep hole, and the man and box went almost out 
of sight, while the white man was in an agony at the fate that 
threatened the dispatches. Fortunately, he recovered himself 
and stood up, while Stanley shouted tojiim, with a loaded re- 
volver pointed at his head : 

** Look out! Drop that box and I'll shoot you!" 
All the men halted in their work while they gazed at their 
comrade who was thus imperiled by bullet and flood. The 
man seemed himself to regard the pistol with the greatest 
awe, and after a few desperate efforts succeeded in getting the 
box safely ashore. As the articles within were not damaged, 
Rojab escaped punishment, with a caution not to touch the 
box again on any account ; and it was transferred to the keep- 
ing of the sure-footed and perfect pagazi, Maganga. 

From this stream, in about an hour, they came to the main 
river, but one look at its wild waters was enough. They 
worked hard to construct a raft, but after cutting down four 
trees and lashing the green logs together, and pushing them 
into the whirling current, they saw them sink like lead. They 
then tied together all the strong rope in their possession, and 
made a line one hundred and eighty feet long, with one end 
of which tied round his body, Chowpereh was sent across to 
lash it to a tree. He was carried far down the stream, but be- 
ing an excellent swimmer he succeeded in his attempt. The 
bales were lashed around the middle, and, heaved into the 
stream, were dragged through the river to the opposite bank, as 
well as the tent, and such things as could not be injured much 
by the water. Several of the men, as well as the leader, were al- 
so dragged through the water, each of the boys being attended 
by the best swimmers; but when they came to the letter boxes 
and valuables, they could suggest no means to take them over. 
Two camps were accordingly made, one on each side of the 
stream ; the one on the bank from which the crossing was 
made occupying an ant-hill of considerable height, while the 
party that had crossed was obliged to content itself with aflat, 
miry marsh. An embankment of soil, nearly a foot high, was 



480 HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 

thrown up in a circle nearly thirty feet in diameter, in the 
center of which the leader's tent was pitched and around it 
booths were erected. 

It was an extraordinary and novel position in which they 
found themselves; within twenty feet of their camp was a 
rising river, with low, flat banks ; above them was a gloomy, 
weeping sky; surrounding them on three sides was an immense 
forest, on whose branches they heard the constant, pattering 
rain; beneath their feet was a great depth of mud, black and 
loathesome; add to these the thought that the river might 
overflow, and sweep them to utter destruction. 

In the morning the^ver was still rising; and an inevitable 
doom seemed to hang over them. There v\'as yet time to act, 
to bring over the people, with the most valuable effects of the 
expedition, as its leader considered Dr. Livingstone's Journal 
and letters and his own papers. While looking at the awful 
river an id'ea struck him that he might. possibly carry the 
boxes across, one at a time, by cutting two slender poles, 
and tying cross-sticks to them, making a kind of hand-barrow, 
on which a box might rest when lashed to it. Two men swim- 
ming across, at the same time holding on to the rope, with 
the ends of the poles resting on their shoulders, he thought, 
would be enabled to convey over a seventy-pound box with 
ease. In a short time one of these was made, and six couples 
of the strongest swimmers were prepared, and stimulated with 
a rousing glass of grog for each man, with a promise of cloth 
also to each if they succeeded in getting everything ashore un- 
damaged by the water. When he saw with what ease they 
dragged themselves across, the barrow on their shoulders, he 
wondered that they had not thought of the plan before. With- 
in an hour after the first couple had gone over, the entire ex- 
pedition was safe on the eastern bank ; and at once breaking 
camp they marched north through the swampy forest, which 
in some places were covered with four feet of water. Seven 
hours constant splashing brought them to Rehenneko. On a 
hill near this point, they encamped for ten days or until April 
25 ; when, the rain having entirely ceased, they resolved to at- 
tempt the crossing of the Makata. But they should have wait- 
ed a month longer, for the inundation had not abated four 
inches. However, after they had once struggled up to their 
necks in water, it was useless to turn back. For two march- 
es of eight hours each they plunged through slush, mire, deep 
sloughs, water up to their necks, and muddy cataclysms, swam 
across nullahs, waded across gullies, and near sunset of the sec- 



HOW STANLEY TOUND LITINGSTONE. 481 

ond day arrived at the banks of the Makata River. They were 
not likely to forget that night ; not one of them was able to sleep 
until long past midnight, because of the clouds of mosquitoes, 
which threatened to eat them all up; and when the horn 
sounded for the march of another day, there was not one dis- 
sentient among them. 

It was 5 A. M. when they began the crossing of the Makata 
Eiver; but beyond it for six miles stretched one long lake, the 
waters of which flowed gently toward the Wami. This was 
the confluence of the streams ; four rivers were here gathered 
into one. The natives of Kigongo warned them not to attempt 
it, as the water was over their heads ; but the leader had only 
to give a hint to his men, and they set out on their way. They 
were soon up to their arm-pits ; then the water shallowed to 
the knee; then they stepped up to the neck, supporting the 
children above the water. The same experiences occurred as 
those which they had suffered the day before, until they were 
halted on the edge of the Little Makata, which raced along at 
the rate of eight knots an hour ; but it was only fifty yards 
wide, and beyond it rose a high bank and dry parklands which 
extend as far as Simbo. They had no other option than to 
swim it; but it was a slow operation, the current was so swift 
and strong. Activity and zeal, high rewards, presents of money, 
backed by the lively feeling that they were nearing home, 
worked wonders, and in a couple of hours they were beyond 
the Makata. 

Cheery and hopeful, they sped along the smooth, dry path 
that now lay before them, with the ardor and vivacity of 
heroes, and the ease and power of veterans. They rolled three 
ordinary marches into one that day, and long before night ar- 
rived at Simbo. 

But it is not our province to attend the traveler when his 
journey is rapid and prosperously uneventful; we therefore 
omit details of the length of marches, etc., and merely note 
the end. At sunset on the 6th of May they entered Bagamoyo. 
Here Mr. Stanley found Lieut. Henn and Mr. Oswald Living- 
stone, who were in charge of the Livingstone Search and Re- 
lief Expedition. The first head of that expedition, Lieut. 
Dawson, had hurried off to Zanzibar and resigned the com- 
mand of it as soon as he heard that Stanley had found Living- 
stone. The traveler was warmly congratulated by these two 
gentlemen, and his advice asked as to what remained for them 
to do. He assured them that Dr. Livingstone wanted only 
for a few things, which he had promised to send by an escort 



482 HOW STANLEY FOUND LIVINGSTONE. 

of fifty trusty men as soon as he reached Zanzibar ; but advis- 
ed that Mr. Livingstone should go to his father. 

But the son was not possessed of the father's iron constitu- 
tion; and his health at this time was such that Dr. Kirk 
strongly advised him not to attempt the trip. He therefore 
decided not to go ; and Stanley followed his original plan of 
sending a caravan with the needed supplies under the guidance 
of Arabs. 

The New York Herald Expedition to Africa had originally 
consisted of one man; later on, there were three white men, 
two of whom, however, died in Africa; the discharge of the 
black servitors reduced it to its original strength again ; and 
the expedition may be considered to have been disbanded 
when Stanley sailed for England. He arrived there late in 
July, 1872, in company with Mr. Livingstone and Lieut. 
Henn, who had definitely given up the idea of heading the 
Eoyal Geographical Society's Search and Eelief Expedition. 

Stanley's reception in England would be of no interest at 
this time, were it not for the purpose of comparing it with 
future receptions in the same country. An intense jealousy 
of the American Expedition existed; so certain were the 
English that it could not succeed, that the leader of the 
English Expedition had actually received no instructions as to 
his course in case Stanley should have found and relieved Liv- 
ingstone. The newspapers reflected the popular sentiment at 
the time when they said that Stanley had not found Living- 
stone so much as Livingstone had found Stanley. 

This state of affairs, however, continued but a short time; 
and although the Geographical Society was a little stubborn 
about acknowledging the results of the trip, the government 
was less dilatory. The Queen's appreciation of his services 
was expressed by a suitable letter from the Minister for For- 
eign Affairs, and a gift of a beautiful gold snuff-box set with 
brilliants. 

Of the appreciation with which his services met by his em- 
ployer and that employer's master, the great American people 
and the other readers of the newspapers, it is not necessary to 
speak. His name had become known, before the beginning of 
his second African trip, in every household throughout the 
length and breadth of the land; and this, as things go now, is 
fame. What more could an adventurous man ask, even as a 
reward for finding Livingstone? 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



THE CAMEROJf-LIVIJSTGSTOJYE SEARCH EXPEDITI0:N'. 



Q 



S we have seen from the conclusion of Stanley's narra- 
tive regarding the finding of Livingstone, the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society had sent out, some time after the Her- 
ald's representative started, an expedition to find and 
relieve the great explorer who was acting under the instruc- 
tions of this association. We have seen that this expedition 
was unnecessary, and that division among those composing it 
quickly put an end to its attempts to reach Livingstone. 

Lieutenant Verney Lovett Cameron, of the British Navy, 
had volunteered his services for this expedition, but they were 
not accepted, for some reason or other. When, however, DaAV- 
son's expedition was reported to have broken up, he again vol- 
unteered to proceed to join Dr. Livingstone, taking with him 
such instruments and stores as the discoverer might require, 
and placing his services unreservedly at the doctor's disposal. 
There was then, apparently, no idea of sending out another ex- 
pedition. Cameron next drew up a scheme for the explora- 
tion of the route to Victoria Nyanza via Mounts Kilima Njaro 
and Kenia, and the volcano reported to lie north of them — 
thus passing close to the water-shed between the coast rivers 
and the feeders of the Victoria Nyanza — and after surveying 
that lake, to work his way to the Albert Nyanza or Mwuta- 
Nzige, and thence through Ulegga to Nyangwe and down the 
Congo to the west coast. The Council of the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society were, however, of the opinion that this 
scheme could not be carried out with the funds at its disposal. 
But it was afterward decided to use the surplus remaining 
from the subscriptions for the first Livingstone Search Expe- 
dition in fitting out another; and of this Lieut. Cameron was 
chosen the leader. Mr. W. E. Dillon, a surgeon, was chosen 

483 



484 THE CAMERON-LIVINGSTONE SEARCH EXPEDITION. 

as his companion ; and after they reached Aden, Lieut. Cecil 
Murphy, R. A. , volunteered to accompany them. 

Arriving at Zanzibar, Lieut. Cameron esteemed himself for- 
tunate in securing the services of Bombay, of whom men- 
tion has been made in connection with the explorations of 
Speke and Grant, and the first trip of Stanley. Bombay, how- 
ever, was not the acquisition that they thought him; he was in- 
clined to trade upon his reputation ; and when appointed to 
hunt out good men for their service, he picked them up w^here- 
ever he could find them, no matter what they might have been. 

The expedition arrived at Bagamoyo, February 2, 1873. 
There was the usual difficulty about obtaining a sufficient 
number of pagazis for the trip ; and after they started f roni 
Bagamoyo, something over a month after they reached the 
place, there w^as much the same trouble about deserters that 
every African traveler experiences. Nor had they gone many 
miles before they found out how hard it is to get food when 
those who have it persist that they do not wish to sell. 

About the end of the first week in April, they heard that a 
village was close in front, and sent messengers to acquaint the 
chief of their approach. Astounding rumors were brought 
back, to the effect that the chief would not allow them to 
pass. They did not quite trust this, for each messenger told 
a different story ; but camped where they were for one day until 
they should receive a definite answer. The hoped-for answer 
not having arrived on the 7th of April, they started on, and 
about noon arrived at the outskirts of a village. They found 
that the chief would not forbid their passing his village, pro- 
vided they paid him mhongo, or tribute, to the extent of thirty 
doti. This chief of Msuwah had entered into a treaty with the 
people of Whinde, to pay them a certain number of sla\ ^3, in 
return for the privilege of taxing all the caravans passing 
through his country, except those who came from "^. hinde. 
Cameron cites this as an instance of how little the sultan of 
Zanzibar can do to put down the slave-trade. 

After various delays at points not far from ihe coast, ^^-'^y 
were joined by three caravans bound for the interior, so cuat 
when they marched from the Mukondokwa, «Tune 11, they 
were over ^ye hundred strong — powerful enough to defy the 
hostile natives if they should come in contact with i av such. 
Ugogo was entered June 21, a country of which they had neard 
such stories that they anticipated some difficulty in passing 
through. The Wagogo are reputed to be great thieves, and so 
overbearing that any insult they inflict, Cameron was told, 



THE CAMERON-LIVINGSTONE SEARCH EXPEDITION. 



485 



he must bear without resistance. Should a Wagogo be struck, 
or receive any injury, however imaginary, a fine was exacted ; 
and if this were not immediately paid, they would attack and 
plunder the caravan. Such was the character which the trav- 
elers received; but although they found that the Wagogo 
were disposed to be insolent enough, they found also that they 
were the veriest cowards and poltroons it is possible to con- 
ceive. 





Wagogo Heads. 

Their neighbors to the northward, however, are more cour- 
ageous. These are the Wahumba,-a branch of the great Masai 
nation, who possess large herds, but do not cultivate the 
grounds or maintain permanent habitations. Their diet consists 
entirely of milk mixed with blood and meat, which they de- 
vour almost raw. They move from place to place in search of 
pasture, sheltering themselves at night under a frame-work of 
small branches covered with one or two dressed hides. Their 
arms are short, heavy spears unfit for throwing, and double- 
edged swords; they also carry a huge shield. 

The Wagogo complain much of the ravages of these neigh- 
bors, who are much braver than they are : and since the Masai 
do not recognize the right of other tribes to own cattle, they 
help themselves to these animals whenever they find a herd 
handy. 




A MASAI WARRIOR. 



CAMERON-LIVINGSTONE SEARCH EXPEDITION. 



487 



Arriving at Unyanyembe in August, after a journey the de- 
tails of which need not here be repeated, since it was over the 
same route as that traversed by the Herald Expedition, and 
was marked by no events of special importance, they were 
well received by the Arabs of the place, and lodged in the 




Lieut. V. L. Cameron. 



house which Livingstone had occupied, with Stanley as his 
guest. While they were here, a caravan arrived from Mtesa, 
the great chief of the Waganda, bringing a letter from Sir 
Samuel Baker addressed to Dr. Livingstone. Lieut. Cameron 



488 CAMERON-LIVINGSTONE SEARCH EXPEDITION. 

thought it advisable to open this letter, as it might contain 
some clue to Livingstone's movements; and sent in reply to it 
a letter to. Sir Samuel, and one, written both in English and 
Arabic, to Mtesa. 

For weeks they remained in Unyanyembe, unable to leave 
because they could not secure sufficient pagazis to carry their 
baggage. Nor could they have gone on if they had had the 
necessary help ; for all three white men were frequently pros- 
trated by fever, and their eyes were so affected that now one 
and now another would be completely blind. It was October 
20, when Cameron lay on his bed, listless and enfeebled from 
repeated attacks of fever, his mind dazed and confused with 
whirling thoughts and fancies of home, that his servant came 
running into the tent with a letter in his hand. Cameron 
snatched it from him , and demanded to know where it came from . 

" Some man bring him," was the only reply. 

It was that letter which Jacob WaiuAvright had w^ritten^ an- 
nouncing his master's death to the leader of the Relief Expe- 
dition, who, it was supposed, must be Mr. Oswald Livingstone. 
Being half blind, it was with some difficulty that Cameron de- 
ciphered the writing, and then, failing to attach any definite 
meaning to it, he went to Dillon. His brain was in much the 
same state of confusion from the fever, and they read it again 
together, each having the same vague idea: "Could it be my 
own father who is dead?" 

But when they knew that it was Chuma who had brought the 
letter, they understood what they had been reading. Supplies 
were at once sent for the caravan, and a messenger was dis- 
patched to the coast to announce Dr. Livingstone's death. 

What was now to be done? Obviously, the Livingstone 
Search and Relief Expedition w^as at an end. Dillon and 
Murphy decided to return to the coast, the health of both be- 
ing seriously affected by the fever; while Cameron, more in- 
domitable, persisted in advancing, with the intention of fol- 
lowing up, if possible, the discoveries of Livingstone. Nov. 
9, both caravans started; one for the eastern coast, compris- 
ing Livingstone's attendants beaVing his body. Murphy and 
Dillon ; while Cameron set out for the West. His expedition 
now consisted of himself, Bombay, Asmani and Mabruki, who 
had been with Stanley, four others as servants, cooks, etc., 
and about a hundred pagazis and askaris, the number varying 
from day to day, as some deserted and more enlisted. 

The Sindi was crossed by means of one of the floating islands 
of vegetation which are common to this river; and the Mala- 



CAMEROK-LIVING STONE SEARCH EXPEDITION. 489 

garazi by means of the canoes of native ferrymen. It was Feb. 
18, 1874, when they first came within sight of Tanganyika. 
The first sight was disappointing; lying at the bottom of a 
steep descent was a bright bhie patch about a mile long, then 
to:\i2 trees, and beyond them a great gray expanse, having the 
appearance of a sky with floating clouds. It was not until his 
men had persisted that this was the lake, that it dawned upon 
Cameron that the vast gray expanse w^as Tanganyika, and that 
the *' clouds " were the distant mountains of Ugoma, w^hile the 
blue patch was an inlet lighted up by a passing ray of the 
sun. 

Hurrying down the descent and across the flat at the bottom, 
they reached the shore, and embarked in two canoes which the 
Arabs had sent from Ujiji. After an hour's pull they reached 
Kawele. Here he endeavored to get a boat for a sail on Tan- 
ganyika ; but the owner demanded ivory in payment, of which 
commodity he had none. He learned that Mohammed bin 
Salib had ivory to sell for cloth; but as Cameron had no cloth, 
this did not help matters any. Further investigation revealed 
that Mohammed bin Gharib had cloth, and wanted wire, of 
which Cameron had a supply. Accordingly, the wire was 
traded for the cloth, the cloth was traded for the ivory, and 
the ivory was traded for the use of the boat, and he set out on 
his voyage. 

It was March 13 when he began this trip about the lake ; for 
ten days he traversed the same part of it that had been gone 
over by Livingstone and Stanley; on the 23d he rounded Ras 
Kungwe, and entered upon that part of the lake which had 
hitherto been unexplored, and indeed unseen by any white 
man. Ras Kungwe is situated near the narrowest part of the 
lake, where it is not more than fifteen miles across. But they 
did not go far beyond this point. A single day's sail, and they 
turned back toward the starting-point. 

They landed at several villages on their voyage, for the pur- 
pose of obtaining food ; and usually camped on shore, although 
not always near a village. Wherever in contact with the peo- 
ple, Lieut. Cameron noted with a keen eye the evidences of 
their manufactures, habits, and other particulars. A single 
paragraph will show how concisely he gives his impressions of 
their appearance : 

"No imported cloth was to be seen at the village of Kitata, 
the people wearing skins, bark-cloth, or cotton of their own 
manufacture. The natives suspend their clothing around the 
waist by rope as thick as the little finger, bound neatly with 



CAMERON-LIVINGSTONE SEARCH EXPEDITION. 491 

brass wire. Their tv^ool is sometimes anointed with oil. in 
which red earth has been mixed, giving them the appearance 
of having dipped their heads in blood." 

Reaching Kasongalowa, he determined to cross the lake and 
work northward along the opposite shore. It was his great 
desire to find what Livingstone and Stanley had sought, the 
outlet of Tanganyika. In order to do so, he had scrupulously 
investigated the direction of every river to which they came, 
until his men became a little particular as to whether a river 
about which he asked information flowed into the lake or out 
of it ; many Africans will give the answer which they think is 
desired, and while this is pleasant enough at the time, it does 
not afford much satisfaction when the traveler has disprov- 
ed the assertion. 

On the 3d of May, he arrived at the Lukuga, which he had 
previously been assured flowed outward. A chief had told 
him very positively, in addition to the less detailed statements 
that he obtained from his own men, that the river was well- 
known to his people, who often traveled for more than a 
month along its banks, until it fell into a larger river, the 
Lualaba, and that in its course it received the Lulumbiji and 
many small streams. 

Cameron went four or five miles down this stream, but found 
it blocked with vegetable obstructions. He hired natives, 
however, to cut a passage through these masses of plants, and 
determined to follow its course. Further consideration, how- 
ever, told him that he had not suflacient means to justify him 
in cutting the channel through the grass and buying canoes ; 
and accordingly the project was given up, and the traveler re- 
turned to Ujiji. 

During this second stay at Ujiji, he had many talks with the 
Arabs who were familiar with the country, and learned from 
them that in their opinion the Lualaba was the same as the 
Congo. *' Whence they got this idea," he says, "I could not 
ascertain." This is the first hint, we believe, in any publish- 
ed book, that the Lualaba is the Congo, or a tributary of it; 
and it should be remembered that this was said to him by the 
Arabs before Livingstone's Last Journal, suggesting that it 
might be so (although he did not wish to believe that the 
Lualaba was not a tributary of the Nile system), was pub- 
lished. 

Having determined upon traveling by land, at least until 
the obstructions in the river should be passed, Cameron left 
Ujiji May 31. Marching through the heat (the thermometer 



CAMERON-LI VINGSTOXE SEAUCH EXPEDITION. 



493 



registered one hundred and thirty-one degrees in partial shade), 
they forde'd the Lugumba at noon the next' day. That same 
afternoon, they crossed the water-shed between the Lugumba 
and the Lukuga. The former of these two streams must not 
be cdnf used with the Ruhumba, as is often done ; this river 
was crossed several days later, the current being so swift that 
they were obliged to throw across it a rope made of the wild 
creepers for the men to hold to, that they might not be swept 
away. 

It is to be noted that here to the west of Tanganyika Cam- 
eron found a custom preva- 
lent among the tribes east of 
it, notedby Livingstone; but 
whereas in the eastern coun- 
try it was followed by all 
classes, in the western only 
the lower classes disfigured 
their women in this way; 
leading Cameron to believe 
that these were the aborigi- 
nes, who had retained one 
of their customs which their 
conquerors disdained to ob- 
serve. The custom is that of 
wearing the lip-ring, which 
obtains only among the wo- 
men as a rule, although some 
cases have been noted of 
men wearing it. The upper 
lip of a small girl is perfor- 
ated, and a piece of stone, 
wood, or metal, inserted to 
prevent the wound growing 
up. Gradually the orifice is 
enlarged by substituting a larger piece of material for that pre- 
viously used; and in some. cases the lip protrudes an inch and 
a half or two inches. The lip-ring cannot be said to add to a 
lady's beauty, but it is the fashion in Ubudjua and some other 
countries, and is most cheerfully and even proudly worn. 

At Pakundi, they fell in with a caravan of about two hun- 
dred and fifty, with whom, for mutual protection, they con- 
tinued their journey through Manyuema. The caravan was in 
reality composed of several, and some of the leaders were 
slave-traders. Cameron thus had an opportunity of witnessing 




The Pelele or Lip-Ring. 



CAMEROX-LIVIXG STONE SEARCH EXPEDITION. 495 

for himself something of the system of buying slaves ; and 
gives it as his opinion that the slaves are much better treated 
by the traders than while they remained in the hands of their 
native owners. They were mostly captives, surprised when in 
the woods a short way from their own villages, and had, of 
course, to be kejDt in chains to prevent their escaping; other- 
wise they were not really badly used, being fairly fed and not 
overloaded. In the few cases of bad treatment which came 
under his notice, the owners were either slaves themselves, or 
freedmen who, on beginning to taste the delights of freedom, 
seemed anxious to prevent any one lower in the scale from ris- 
ing to a like state of happiness. This is one man's observa- 
tion of the slave-trade; Livingstone saw the other side of the 
question when he described the bodies that he had seen, the 
victims of their master's rage because their strength had failed 
them. 

As usual, Cameron closely observed the clothing, household 
arrangements, and customs of the people. His descriptions of 
musical instruments used in Manyuema are especially inter- 
esting, as enabling the reader to see clearly the original form 
of the complicated instruments in use among civilized peoples. 
For instance, the marimha evidences a musical genius which, 
among more cultured surroundings, might have produced a 
Beethoven. It is formed of two rows of gourds fitted into a 
framework ; and over each pair of gourds a clef of hard wood 
is placed; when struck with sticks having india-rubber heads, 
this gives out a metallic sound. The gourds are of course 
varied in size to produce the different notes ; and there were 
different sizes of the sticks, the player dexterously changing 
one for another, as a sharper or duller sound was required. 
Bells, drums, gongs and rattles were also used by the native 
band by which he was on one occasion serenaded. 

The Lulindi was crossed July 18. This stream was rendered 
remarkable to the Englishman by a bridge which had been 
made across it, since it is unfordable in time of flood. At 
a height of twenty feet above the water, four large cables of 
cree.pers were fastened to the trunks of trees, one pair about 
four feet higher than the other; and to these cables were 
secured other creepers from the tops of the loftiest trees on each 
side of the stream, while horizontal guys prevented the bridge 
from swaying about. Across the lower pair of cables sticks 
were laid to form a roadway. These were lashed to their 
places and wattled in with creepers, while a large network of 
the same connected the upper and lower cables on the same 



496 



CAMERON-LIVINGSTONE SEARCH EXPEDITION. 



side of the bridge. Altogether it was a very ingenious and 
effective structure, and rather astonished the officer, as he 
had never seen any similar construction in Africa and never 
afterward met with such another. 




Native Suspension Bridge Across the Lulindi. 

They came in sight of the Lualaba August 3— a strong and 
sweeping current of turbid yellow water fully a mile wide,and 



CAMERON-LIVINGSTONE SEARCH EXPEDITION. 4d7 

flowing at the rate of three or four knots an hour. There 
were enormous herds of hippopotami blowing and snorting, 
and here and there the long scaly back of a crocodile floating 
almost flush with the water. The passage down the river was 
rapid and pleasant, owing to the swift current and the beauty 
of the scenery ; and they arrived at Nyangwe late* that after- 
noon. 

But at Nyangwe it was impossible to get canoes to continue 
the journey; those who owned them, and were willing to sell, 
refused to accept anything but slaves in payment; and Cam- 
eron explained, again and again, that a British subject could 
not deal in slaves. His party was too small to travel by land 
with any safety, and his cowardly black companions flatly told 
him that they would not attempt it; he was therefore very 
glad when Tipo-Tipo, whose camp was about ten marches off, 
came to Nyangwe to act as arbitrator between the people of 
that place and the chief Rossuna ; and permitted the English- 
man to travel under his escort. 

The time at Nyangwe was not wasted, but spent in collect- 
ing geographical information. Here it was that Cameron 
definitely discovered that the Lualaba could not be a tributary 
of the Nile, since it is lower at Nyangwe than the Nile at Gon- 
dokoro, below the point at which it has received all its afflu- 
ents. He learned from the natives that the Lualaba flowed 
into a great lake, which he supposed to be that which Living- 
stone had named Lake Lincoln. 

They reached the Rovubu shortly after setting out, and 
crossed it by means of a native bridge, displaying great pains, 
but scarcely as much engineering skill as that made of the 
creepers. They arrived at Rossuna's village August 29, and 
halted there for two days. During this time, the chief fre- 
quently visited Cameron, bringing a different wife with him 
each time. Finally the women visited him in a body, and be- 
come very inquisitive, turning back the legs and sleeves of his 
clothes to see if it was his face alone that was white. They 
became so inquisitive that he began to fear they would undress 
him altogether, and threw some beads and cowries among them, 
to scramble for; and thus escaped their attentions. 

Before making preparations for crossing the Lomami, they 
had to receive a visit from Kasongo, the chief of the district. 
They arrayed themselves in their best, and assembled in an 
open shed, which was the general meeting-place of the settle- 
ment during the day, and often far into the night. The chief's 
master of ceremonies first arrived, carrying a long carved 



498 CAMEKON-LIVINGSTONE SEARCH EXPEDITION. 

walking-stick as a badge of office; after him, different sub- 
chiefs and shield-bearers came, a few of the more important 
being followed also by drummers. After some time, drum- 
ming and shouting announced the approach of the great man 
himself, who came in grand procession. With him Cam- 
eron had a long conversation, acquainting Kasongo with his 
wish to cross the river and proceed to Lake Sankorra. The 
chief graciously promised to secure permission for the white 
man to pass through the territories of the chief across the 
river; and took his departure in the state in which he had 
come. The visit was returned two days afterward; and Cam- 
eron learned that permission to travel through the neighbor- 
ing chief's country would not be given. 

His direct road to the lake being thus closed, he tried to 
find some more circuitous route ; and decided to make his way 
to the country of the Warua, and then work backward to 
Sankorra. Nearing the Lukazi River, he found that the 
natives were not friendly, as his men had predicted. While 
he was in front looking for the road, he was unpleasantly sur- 
prised by some arrows being shot at them from a narrow strip 
of jungle. One of them glanced off his own shoulder; and 
catching sight of the fellow who shot at him lurking be- 
hind a tree, he dropped his rifle and started in chase. Fortune 
favored the white man, for his enemy tripped and fell; and 
before he could regain his feet, the pursuer was down upon 
him, and after giving him as sound a thrashing as he ever had 
in his life, smashed his bow and arrows. This finished, the 
white man pointed to some of the black man's friends who 
were now in view, and considerably assisted him in joining 
them by means of stern propulsion, the kick being a hearty 
one. 

Passing through some villages near this point, they met with 
anything but a cordial reception ; a number of arrows being 
discharged at them as soon as they came in sight. The key to 
this behavior on the part of the natives is to be found in the 
fact that several caravans of slave-traders had recently passed 
through that country, and Cameron was taken for one of thiat 
ilk. 

Rumors reached them continually of traders who were 
** Wasungu," or white men; and Cameron learned, some 
time in October, that he was to receive a visit from one of 
these, Jose Antonio Alvez. Great was his disappointment when 
an old and ugly negro turned out of the hammock in which he 
had come in state. Alvez insisted that he was thoroughly civil- 



CAMERON-LIVINGSTONE SEARCH EXPEDITION. 



499 



ized, and the same as an Englishman or any other white man ; 
and insisted that his word was as good as his bond, that he 
never lied, that he was altogether the most honest man on the 
face of the earth. 

Cameron received promises of protection from Alvez, if the 
Englishman would agree to pay him a certain amount when 
they reached the coast in safety; and arrangements were ac- 
cordingly made for traveling with him. But since he did not 
propose to start for about a month, the Englishman decided 
to explore Lake Mohrya in the meantime. 




Native African Arrow -Heads a7id 



It was his special desire to visit the lake-dwellers of Mohrya, 
but he found it impossible to procure canoes when he had ar- 
rived at the shores of the lake. He was therefore obliged to 
content himself with sketches made from the shore ; and on 
his way back to the camp of Alvez busied himself with details 
of the customs of the Warua, their manners, religion, and 
dress. 

Lake Kassali, or Kikonja, was also attempted; but the 
white man was not permitted to reach it. 
32 



CAMERON-LIVINGSTONE SEARCH EXPEDITION. 501 

Alvez had professed that he was waiting for Kasongo to re- 
turn from an extensive raid, in order to secure that chief's per- 
mission to depart and travel through his territories ; and Cam- 
eron thought that when the chief returned to the capital, he 
would soon be off for the coast. But if Alvez 's word was as 
good as his bond, the bond was utterly worthless ; for Cameron 
found him to be a most accomplished liar. It is true that 
shortly after Kasongo's return, the latter held an imposing 
ceremony, which was intended to give Cameron to understand 
that he and Alvez were now free to leave the village; threat- 
ening Alvez with his vengeance if Cameron did not reach the 
coast in safety. A short description of the scene will not be 
out of place : 

"Alvez and his men, all of whom carried guns, were formed 
in line along one side of the open space toward the entrance 
to the mussumba, and Jumah Merikani and myself, with our 
followers, sat opposite. Midway between these two lines, and 
towards one end, stood Kasongo. Facing him was a man sup- 
porting a curiously shaped axe, and immediately behind him 
were four women, one of whom also carried an axe similar in 
form to that in front. Then followed two Waganga, and wo- 
men bearing Kasongo's shields, and behind them a party of 
men with all Kasongo's guns, standing in line, and flanked on 
either side by executioners and other officials. In rear of all 
were his wives and children. Opposite to Kasongo, and close 
to the entrance of the mussumba, were the chiefs who had 
been summoned to attend with their followers, all arrayed^ in 
their best." 

Upon one pretext after another, Alvez delayed their depart- 
ure; and it was not until February 25 that they actually set out. 
The whole caravan numbered about seven hundred ; and be- 
fore leaving Urua, they had collected about fifteen hundred 
slaves, chiefly by force and robbery. Cameron found that the 
Portuguese were by far the most inhuman of those who had to 
do with slaves ; and had he not seen the treatment to which 
these unfortunate beings were subjected, be could scarcely 
have believed that any men could be so wantonly and brutally 
cruel. 

March and April passed without making any real progress ; 
for in Februa^:y they had only advanced as far as another set- 
tlement of Kasongo's. After every other excuse had been ex- 
hausted, an unfortunate fire occurred. One of Cameron's men 
had smoked himself stupid with hhang, and the lighted fire in- 
side his hut, unwatched, reached the hut itself, which was to 



502 



CAMERON-LIVINGSTONE SEARCH EXPEDITION. 



windward of the camp. It spread rapidly, and Cameron's 
journals and other books were only saved by the exertions of 
two of his men, who left their own property to burn while they 
assisted their master. Cameron, of course, had to pay for the 
property that Avas destroyed ; and was convinced that he paid 
for many things which had never been in the huts that were 
burned. 

Alvez proved so dilatory that Cameron at last became impa- 
tient; and when they halted for an indefinite time upon the 
road, declared that he would go on alone. A considerable 
party traveling with Alvez for the sake of the security which 
numbers give promised to follow him; and the smaller party 
accordingly started onward. 




Slave-Driver and Slave. 



The next morning Cameron received an impertinent mes- 
sage from Alvez which made him determine to visit that worthy ; 
and the result was that they again joined forces. One of Al- 
vez' subordinates had been on a slave-hunt during this halt, 
and had returned with fifty-two women, tied together in lots 
of seventeen or eighteen, all laden with huge bundles of grass- 
cloth and other plunder. Cameron calculates that to obtain 
this number, at least ten villages had been destroyed, each 
having a population of from one to two hundred souls or about 
fifteen hundred in all. Some may, perchance, have escaped to 
neighboring villages, but the greater portion were undoubted- 



CAMEROK-LIVING STOKE SEAECH EXPEDITION. 503 

ly burned when their village was surprised, shot while attempt- 
ing to save their wives and families, or doomed to die of star- 
vation in the jungle unless some wild beast put a more speedy 
end to their miseries. These poor, weary and footsore crea- 
tures who accompanied the caravan were covered with weals 
and scars, showing how unmercifully cruel had been the treat- 
ment of the savage w^ho called himself their owner. 

Toward the end of August, they arrived at the village of 
of Katende, the principal chief of a large portion of Lovale, 
which now consists of two or three divisions, although it was 
formerly under one ruler. Alvez and Cameron paid a visit to 
this chief in company, and found him sitting in state under a 
large tree, surrounded by his councilors. On either side was 
a fetich hut ; one containing two nondescript figures of animals, 
and the other, caricatures of the human form divine; while 
from the branch of a tree a goat's horn was suspended from a 
rope of creepers as a charm, and dangled within a few feet of 
the sable potentate's nose. 

He was dressed for the occasion in a colored shirt, felt hat, 
and a long petticoat made of colored pocket-handkerchiefs. 
He smoked unremittingly the whole time, for he w^as an ar- 
dent lover of the soothing weed. As it happened that his 
stock of tobacco was nearly exhausted, Cameron gained his 
esteem by making him a present of a little, in return for 
which he received a fowl and some eggs. To the Englishman's 
questions about Livingstone, the chief replied that he remem- 
bered him as having passed by his village ; but there was very 
little information to be obtained respecting the great traveler, 
except that he rode an ox, a circumstance which seemed to 
have impressed itself indelibly upon Katende 's memory. 

Detained for several days at the village of Sha Kalembe, 
chief of the last district in Lovale, Cameron met with an ex- 
perience which he considered decidedly unique. One of Alvez' 
men, learning that Cameron possessed some viongwa, planned 
to steal them; and hired one of Cameron's own men, for the 
consideration of a certain quantity of beads, to commit the ac- 
tual theft. Fortunately, the Englishman's body servant, Ju- 
mah, knowing the value of the viongwa, had locked them se- 
curely up; so that the thief, not being provided with a "' jim- 
my," could not get them. It appears that the beads were paid 
in advance, and expended before the uselessness of the effort 
was discovered; for when they found that it would not work, 
the directors of the scheme brought a claim against Cameron 
for the value of the beads with which they had bribed his man 



CAMERON-LIVINGSTONE SEAECH EXl^EDITION. 505 

to rob him, and for the value of the fish for which they intend- 
ed to have traded the viongwa. Naturally enough, Cameron de- 
clined to pay this claim ; whereupon the assertors of it threat- 
ened to seize as a slave the man who had received the beads. 
Although the fellow had proven himself thievish, his master 
recognized that he was possessed of some sterling qualities, 
and perceiving that the conspirators meant what they said, he 
decided that it would be wisest to satisfy their demand, pre- 
posterous as it was. 

One of the most singular sights that he saw during his jour- 
ney, was a figure which he was told was a " sham devil," a 
man dressed in a net-work of beads, wearing a painted mask, 
and completing his costume by a kilt of grass and a strip of 
fur down the back. Upon inquiring what a sham devil was, 
he learned that these men went to places supposed to be fre- 
quented by real devils, who, on seeing their prototypes, were 
scared away. He afterward saw several men, at different 
times, gotten up in this st3'le, with slight variations. 

Reaching Bihe early in October, he was at last rid of Alvez, 
who had plundered him most unmercifully upon all occasions. 
Thence he went to the coast with only his own party, the road 
being safe and comparatively well known. But when they 
reached a point a hundred and twenty-six miles from their 
destination, the party appeared so broken down by disease 
that Lieut. Cameron decided to take those who were strongest 
and most willing and push on by forced inarches, sending as- 
sistance to the others. Five of his men volunteered to accom- 
pany him; and there were some others in the settlement 
whence they set out that expressed their willingness to keep 
up with him at any pace that he might use. His walking was 
a little too rapid for them, however, and they fell back. On 
the fourth day, a line appeared upon the horizon — a line that 
was clearly unmistakable as they looked more intently. It was 
the sea. 

They were not only tired, but hungry, having but little food 
to start with, and having marched too rapidly to obtain much 
on the road. Eating their last morsel, they rested for the 
night; and early the next morning were again on the way. A 
messenger had been sent ahead, asking any charitably dis- 
posed person to send a little food to meet them on the way; 
and this morning, a messenger met them, carrying a basket 
containing wine, bread, tins of sardines, and a sausage. A 
trader at Katombela had sent them ; and as they approached 
the town, they saw a couple of hammocks coming, followed by 



506 



CAIMERON-LIVINGSTOHE SEARCH EXPEDITION. 



three men carrying baskets ; another good Samaritan had come 
to meet the white man who had crossed Africa from the east- 
ern to the western coast. 

Having thus followed Lieut. Cameron's footsteps to the 
limits of civilization, here we leave him; for once arrived at 
settlements of white men, however rude they may be, and 
largely populated by the natives of Africa, we pursue his ad- 
ventures no longer. 



^ '-'♦ / 




Native Women Carrying Their Children on the March. 

What had been accomplished by his journey? We shall see 
later on how Stanley esteemed his discovery that the Lukuga 
was the outlet of Tanganyika ; but there was one fact which 
he had indubitably ascertained — that the Lualaba was not a 
tributary of the Nile. Livingstone had unwillingly admitted 
that it might be a confluent of the Congo; Cameron found 
that this w^as most probably true ; it remained for Stanley to 
prove, by the best of all evidence, that this great river of Cen- 
tral Africa reaches the sea by the estuary so long known to the 
civilized world, but never thoroughly explored until within the 
ninth decade of the nineteenth century. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



STAJiLEY CROSSES THE DARK COJ^TIJfEMT FROM 
OCEAJs TO OCEAK> 

TN 1873, in consequence of the cession of some Dutch forts 
'IT* on the African coast to Great Britain, the latter country 
T found itself involved in a war with Ashantee. This con- 
test, in which Sir Grarnet Wolseley, then but a young man 
won many laurels, interests us only because Henry M. Stanley 
was correspondent of the New York Herald from the seat of 
war; and followed the army through its perilous marches and 
into the battles which were fought. The fii*st half of his vol- 
ume entitled " Coomassie and Magdala" is based upon his ex- 
periences there, being largely composed of information fur- 
nished the readers of the newspaper which he represented. 
He returned to England in April, 1874, peace having been con-^ 
chided, and devoted himself assiduously to the preparation of 
this volume for publication. 

After the completion of this task, he was free from demands 
upon his time ; and strolling about London, began to accumu- 
late books upon African geography, geology, botany and eth- 
nology. He knew what had been accomplished by African ex- 
plorers, and how much remained to be done ; and with the zeal of 
one who has a living interest in the subject, sat "inventing and 
planning, sketching out routes and laying out lines of possible 
explorations, noting many suggestions which the continued 
study of my project created. I also drew up lists of instru- 
ments and other paraphernalia that would be required to 
map, lay out, and describe the new regions to be traversed. 

"I had strolled over to the office of the Daily Telegraph one 
day, full of the subject. While I was discussing journalistic 
enterprise in general with one of the staff, the editor entered. 
We spoke of Livingstone and the unfinished task remaining 
behind him. In reply to an eager remark which I made, he asked : 

507 



508 



FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. 



*' * Could you, and would 3'ou complete the work? And what 
is there to do?' 

* ' I answered : 

" * The outlet of Lake Tanganyika is yet undiscovered. We 
know nothing, scarcely, — except what Speke has sketched out 
— of Lake Victoria ; we do not even know whether it consists of 
one or many lakes ; and therefore the sources of the Nile are 
still unknown. Moreover, the western half of the African 
continent is still a white blank.' 

"'Do you think you can settle all this, if we commission 
you?' 

a i While I live, there will be something done. If I survive 
the time required to perform all the work, all shall be done.' " 

Thus was the matter begun ; and this was the work marked 
out. But arrangements could not be at once concluded, be- 
cause the New York Herald had prior claims on him. A cable- 
gram was accordingly dispatched asking if Mr. Bennett would 
join the Daily Telegra]ph in sending Stanley to Africa, to com- 
plete the discoveries of Speke, Burton and Livingstone; to 
which was received the laconic reply: " Yes; Bennett." 

Preparations were at once begun. Equipments — guns, am- 
munition, ropes, Saddles, medical stores, provisions, gifts for 
native chiefs, scientific instruments, stationery, etc., were pur- 
chased; orders were given for the pontoons and boats which 
would be needed; and by the middle of August everything 
was prepared. 

The most important single article of the outfit was a barge, 
the invention of Mr. Stanley himself. This was made of Span- 
ish cedar, 3-8 of an inch thick, forty feet long, six feet beam, 
and thirty inches deep. It was built in sections, each eight 
feet long; and if these sections should prove too heavy for 
portage, they could again be divided into halves. A yawl and 
a gig were also provided, besides the pontoons; the latter of 
which proved unnecessary, the barge doing the work so well. 

His companions were three in number; Frederick Barker, a 
clerk at the Langham Hotel ; and two young Thames water- 
men, Francis John Pocock and his brother Edward. Mr. Ed- 
win Arnold suggested that young English boatmen of good 
character would be of service to him by their river knowledge; 
and secured these stalwart and trustworthy young men. 

Two magnificent mastiffs, a retriever, a bull-dog and a bull- 
terrier accompanied them. They sailed for Zanzibar August 
15, 1874, and arrived there September 21. Several short ex- 
cursions were made along the coast, in the intervals of the 



STANLEY CROSSES THE DARIC CONTINENT 509 

work of obtaining porters, etc., the most important of these 
being the exploration of the Rufiji River; a number of those 
connected with the former expedition, or who had been dis- 
patched to Livingstone's relief after Stanley's return to the 
coast, were engaged; and November 12, 1874, they set sail' 
from Zanzibar, and reached the mainland. 

November 17, they left Bagamoyo, a party three hundred 
and fifty-six in number, including thirty-six women and ten 
boys, the line being nearly half a mile in length. The road 
which they chose lay some thirtjr miles to the north of that 
which has been adopted by most travelers. Their march 
through Ugogo was apparently a progress in a country of 
starvation ; for the improvident natives had not saved enough 
grain for themselves from the last harvest, and this was the 
month (December) for planting. As, they advanced, it be- 
came worse; and on one occasion they were reduced to two 
cupfuls of oatmeal gruel for each person, no native stores be- 
ing attainable. 

Reaching Sun January 12, they were much troubled by sick- 
ness among the caravan; and Edward Pocock was dangerous- 
ly ill. But the discontent of the people at the difliculty of ob- 
taining food was such that Stanley judged it best to keep mov- 
ing, if only two or three miles a day. Accordingly, those who 
were in the worst condition were carried in hammocks, and 
they proceeded by easy stages. They reached Chiwyu January 
18, and had just begun to erect grass huts, when the sick Euro- 
pean died from typhus fever. Here they buried him at the 
foot of a hoary acacia with wide-spreading branches, and the 
lessened group of Europeans, with their army of black attend- 
ants, took up their journey westward the next day. This was by 
no means the first death in the expedition, although it was the 
first white man. Since leaving Bagamoyo, twenty had died, 
and no less than eighty-nine had deserted. 

Hitherto, in the case of all explorers, the story has rather 
been one of difficulties resulting from the nature of the 
country than from the hostility of the natives. Mungo Park 
alone, of the great African explorers, met with his death at 
the hands of Africans. But the story of Stanley's journey 
across the continent is, throughout, a story of battle, he had 
learned forbearance, he tells us, from Livingstone; but this is 
a virtue which savage adversaries seldom appreciate, mistak- 
ing it for weakness and cowardice. 

While encamped at Yinyata, a few days after Pocock's death, 
they received a visit from a great magic doctor, who brought 



STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT. 511 

them the welcome present of a fine fat ox. Repaid about four- 
fold for it, he came again the next day, bringing some milk, 
and again received a present. Stanley continues : 

" Half an hour after the departure of the magic doctor, while 
many of the Wangwana were absent purchasing grain, and 
and others were in the forest collecting fagots, we heard war- 
cries. Imagining that they were the muster-call to resist their 
neigbors of Izanjeh, or of some tribe to the east, we did not 
pay much attention to them. However, as these peculiar war- 
cries, which may be phonetically rendered ' Hehua hehu^' ap- 
peared to draw nearer, we mustered a small party on the high- 
est ground of the camp, in an attitude of doubt and inquiry, 
and presently saw a large body of natives, armed with spears. 




Curious African Head-Dress. 

bows and arrows, and shields, appear within a hundred yards 
on a similar high ground outside the camp. The sight suggest- 
ed to us that they had mustered against us, yet I could divine 
no cause of grievance or subject of complaint to call forth a 
warlike demonstration. 

" I dispatched two unarmed messengers to them to ask them 
what their intentions were, and to ascertain the object of this 
apparently hostile mob. The messengers halted midway be- 
tween the camp and the crowd, and sitting down, invited two 
of the natives to advance to them for a ' shauri ' [palaver or 
conference] . 

*' We soon discovered upon the return of the messengers 
that one of the Wangwana had stolen some milk, and that the 
natives had been aroused to make war on us because of the 



STANLEY CROSSES THE DAEK CONTINENT. 513 

theft. They were sent back to inform the natives that war was 
wicked and unjust for such a small crime, and to suggest that 
they should fix a price upon the milk, and permit us to atone 
for the wrong by a handsome gift. After some deliberation 
the proposition was agreed to. A liberal present of cloth was 
made, and the affair had apparently terminated. 

** But as this mob was about to retire peacefully, another 
large force appeared from the north. A consultation ensued, 
at first quietly enough, but there were one or two prominent 
figures there, who raised their voices, the loud, sharp and pe- 
remptory tones of which instinctively w^arned me that their 
owners would carry the day. There was a bellicose activity 
about their movements, an emphasis in their gestures, and a 
determined wrathful fury about the motion of head and pose 
of body that were unmistakable. They appeared to be quar- 
reling doggedly with those who had received cloth for the 
milk, and were evidently ready to fight with them if they per- 
sisted in retiring without bloodshed. 

" In the midst of this, Soudi, a youth of Zanzibar, came 
hastily upon the scene. He had a javelin gash near the right 
elbow joint, and a slight cut as though from a flying spear was 
visible on his left side, while a ghastly wound from a whirling 
knob-stick had laid open his temples. He reported his brother 
Suliman as lying dead near the forest, to the west of the camp. 

" We decided, nevertheless, to do nothing. We were strong 
disciples of the doctrine of forbearance, for it seemed to me 
then as if Livingstone had taught it to me only the day before. 
'Keep silence,' I said; ' even for this last murder I shall not 
fight ; when they attack the camp, then it will be time enough. ' 
To Frank I simply said that he might distribute twenty rounds 
of ammunition without noise to each man, and dispose our 
party on either side the gate, ready for a charge should the 
natives determine upon attacking us. 

" The loudly arguing mob had not yet settled conclusively 
what they should do, and possibly hostilites might have been 
averted, had not the murderers of young Suliman, advancing 
red-handed and triumphant, extorted from all the unanimous 
opinion that it would be better after all to fight ' the cowardly 
Wangwana and the white men who were evidently only wo- 
men.' 

'* They quickly disposed themselves, delivered loud whoops 
of triumph, prepared their bows, and shot their first arrows. 
The Wangwana became restless, but I restrained them. Perceiv- 
ing no sign of life in our camp, the Wanyaturu judged, doubt- 



514 STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTIKENT 

less, that we were half dead with fright, and advanced boldly to 
within thirty yards, when the word was given to the Wang- 
wana and the Wanyamwezi, who rushed outside, and by the 
very momentum of the rush drove the savages to a distance of 
two hundred yards. The Wangwana were then ordered to halt, 
and deployed as skirmishers. 

'* We still waited without firing. The savages, not compre- 
hending this extraordinary forbearance, advanced once more. 
The interpreters were requested to warn them that we should 
delay no longer. They replied : *Ye are women, ye are women : 
go, ask Mirambo how he fared in Ituru,' saying which 
they twanged their bows. It was only then, perceiving that 
they were too savage to understand the principles of for- 
bearance, that the final word to fight was given. A brisk en- 
counter was sustained for an hour, and then, having driven 
the savages away, the Wangwana were recalled to camp. 

*' Meanwhile Frank was busy with sixty men armed with 
axes in constructing a strong stockade, and on the return of 
the Wangwana they were employed in building marksmen's 
nests at each corner of the camp. We also cleared the ground 
to the space of two hundred yards around the camp. By night 
our camp was secure and perfectly defensible." 

The 24th dawned, but Stanley and his men were in no mood 
for attacking. They were so hungry, exhausted and wretched 
as to be thankful if only their barbarian enemies would but let 
them alone. The camp seemed filled with invalids, frightened 
porters, donkey-boys, women and children instead of fighters. 
There were but seventy effective men ready for the struggle, 
and these were so dispirited by the circumstances as to desire 
nothing so much as immunity from further attack by the ruth- 
less savages. But in the forenoon the hostile natives gathered 
again in their front larger than before in numbers and still 
fiercer for the fight; the whole neighboring country seemed to 
have been roused. The prospect seemed darker than ever, 
and danger of starvation or gradual extinction as one after an- 
other defender fell, seemed the only end in view. The situa- 
tion was growing more desperate every hour. As Mr. Stanley 
adds in his intensely interesting account of the present peril- 
ous situation of his command : 

** Our position, as strangers in a hostile country, is such that 
we cannot exist as a corporate expedition, unless we resist 
with all our might and skill, in order to terminate hostilities 
and secure access to the western country. We therefore wait 
until they advance upon our camp, and drive them back from 



FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. 515 

its vicinity as we did the day before. In half an hour our peo- 
ple are back, and organized into four detachments of ten men 
each under their respective chiefs, two more detachments of 
ten men each are held in reserve, and one other, of ten also, 
detailed for the defense of the camp. They are instructed to 
proceed in skirmishing order in different directions through 
the hostile country, and to drive the inhabitants out wherever 
they find them lodged, to a distance of five miles east and 
north, certain rocky hills, the rendezvous of the foe, being 
pointed out as the place where they must converge. Messen- 
gers are sent with each detachment to bring me back inform- 
ation. 

*' The left detachment, under Chief Farjalli Christie, was 
thrown into disorder, and were killed to a man, except the 
messenger who brought us the news, imploring for the reserve, 
as the enemy' were now concentrated on the second detach- 
ment. Manwa Sera was dispatched with fifteen men, and ar- 
rived at the scene only in time to save eight out of the second 
detachment. The third plunged boldly on, but lost six of its 
number; the fourth, under Chief Safeni, behaved prudently 
and well, and as fast as each inclosed village was taken set it 
on fire. But ten other men dispatched to the scene retrieved 
what the third had lost, and strengthened Safeni. 

*' About 4 P. M., the Wangwana returned, bringing with 
them oxen, goats and grain for food. Our losses in this day's 
proceedings were twenty-one soldiers and one messenger kill- 
ed, and three wounded. 

*' On the morning of the 25th we waited until 9 A. M., again 
hoping that the Wanyaturu would see the impolicy of renewing 
the fight; but we were disappointed, for they appeared again, 
and apparently as numerous as ever. After some severe vol- 
leys we drove them off again on the the third day, but upon 
the return of the Wangwana, instead of dividing them into de- 
tachments, I instructed them to proceed in a compact body. 
Some of the porters volunteered to take the place of the sol- 
diers who perished the previous day, and we were therefore 
able to show still a formidable front. All the villages in our 
neighborhood being first consumed, they continued their 
march, and finally attacked the rocky hill, which the Wanya- 
turu had adopted as a stronghold, and drove them flying 
precipitately into the neighboring country, where they did not 
follow them. 

** We knew now that we should not be disturbed. * * * 
Our losses in Ituru were twenty-four killed and four wounded, 
33 



516 STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT 

and as we had twenty-five men on the sick-list, it may be 
imagined that to replace these fifty-three men great sacrifices 
were necessary, and much ingenuity had to be exercised. 
Twelve loads were accordingly placed on the asses, and ten 
chiefs were detailed to carry baggage until we should arrive 
in Usukuma. Much miscellaneous property was burned, and 
on the morning of the 26th, just before day-break, we resumed 
our interrupted journey." 

Usiha proved much more hospitable, and they were not only 
kindly welcomed, but were able to procure the food which 
they needed so badly. Here, however, they were once in 
danger from the braying of an ass. 

"When in sight of their conical cotes, we dispatched one of 
our native guides to warn the natives that a caravan of 
Wangwana was approaching, and to bear messages of peace 
and good will. But in his absence, one of the Kinyamwezi asses 
set up a terrific braying, which nearly created serious trouble. 
It appears that on one of his former raids the terrible Mirambo 
possessed a Kinyamwezi ass which also brayed, and like the 
geese of the Eoman Capitol, betrayed the foe. Hence the na- 
tives insisted, despite the energetic denial of our guide, that 
this ass must also belong to Mirambo, and for a short period 
he was in a perilous state. They seized and bound him, and 
would probably have dispatched him had not the village scouts 
returned laughing heartily at the fright the vicious ass had 
caused." 

Feb. 27, they reached the shores of the Victoria Nyanza. 
** The first quick view revealed to us a long, broad arm of 
water, which a dazzling sun transformed into silver, some six 
hundred feet below us, at a distance of three miles. A more 
careful and detailed view of the scene showed us that the hill 
on which we stood sloped gradually to the broad bay or gulf 
edged by a line of green wavy reeds and thin groves of um- 
brageous trees scattered along the shore, on which stood sev- 
eral small villages of conical huts. Beyond these, the lake 
stretched like a silvery plain far to the eastward, and away 
across to a boundary of dark blue hills and mountains, while 
several gray rocky islets mocked us at first with an illusion of 
Arab dhows with white sails." 

The inhabitants of the nearest village, supposing that they 
were a force of Mirambo's men, hastily assembled in warlike 
array; but discovering their mistake, gave them a military re- 
ception. This village, Kagehyi, was to be their resting-place 
for some time; and Stanley's people began at once to make 



FKOM OCEAN TO OCEAN. 51 7 ^ 

arrangements for building grass-huts in which to spend the 
time of rest. 

Stanley soon found that it would be impossible to secure 
volunteers for the exploration of the great lake. He was in- 
formed that it was so large that it would take years to trace 
its shores; and who then would be alive? There were a peo- 
ple dwelling on its shores who were gifted with tails ; another 
who trained enormous and fierce dogs for war; another a tribe 
of cannibals, who preferred human flesh to all kinds of meat. 
Its opposite shores, from their very vagueness of outline, and 
its people, from the distorting fogs of misrepresentation 
through which they were seen, only heightened the fears of 
Stanley's men as to the dangers which filled the prospect. 

Within seven days the boat was ready, and strengthened for 
a rough sea life. Provisions of flour and dried fish, bales of 
cloth and beads of various kinds, odds and ends of all possible 
necessaries were boxed, and she was declared^ at last, to be 
only waiting for her crew. Stanley called for volunteers from 
among his own men; not one offered to go. Rewards and 
extra pay were offered; still there was silence. At last, 
Manwa Sera said : 

''Master, have done with these questions. Command your 
party. All your people are your children, and they will not 
disobey you. While you ask them as a friend, no one will 
offer his services. Command them, and they will all go." 

After a little more delay, Stanley selected ten men and a 
steersman, and with this crew, set sail in the Lady Alice March 
8, 1875, upon the waters of Speke Gulf of Victoria Nj^anza. 
Kagehyi is situated near the entrance to Speke Gulf; their 
course was therefore westward until they should reach the 
head of this indentation. They reached its eastern point 
March 12, after a tempestuous voyage of three days, during 
which time the Lady Alice "bounded forward like a wild 
courser." The next day they visited the island of Ukerewe, 
which is separated from the mainland by a channel only six 
feet wide. 

Coasting along Ururi, the country to the northeast of this 
island, they received the remarkable information that it would 
require eight years to circumnavigate the lake. Farther along, 
the natives expressed the most unqualified contempt of the 
method used for propelling the Lady Alice, but fled in terror 
when the sail was hoisted. 

March 24, they reached the northeastern part of the lake, 
and their voyage along the northern shore began. Taking 



STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT. 519 

shelter from a furious northwester the next day near Ngevi 
Island, they saw a small canoe containing two men advancing 
toward th6m. Nothing could induce these men to come within 
one hundred yards ; but presently, as if this had been a recon- 
noissance, a large canoe, propelled by forty paddlers, came 
towards them. Half of this number, who were seated for- 
ward, sprang up when they came within fifty yards, and seiz- 
ing long tufted lances and shields, began to sway them menac- 
ingly. * * * After trial of several languages, a conversa- 
tion in Kiganda was begun. 

"They edged toward us a little nearer, and ended by rang- 
ing their long canoe alongside of our boat. Our tame, mild 
manners were in striking contrast to their bullying, overbear- 
ing and insolent demeanor. The paddlers, half of whom were in- 
toxicated, laid their hands with familiar freedom upon every- 
thing. We still smiled, and were as mild and placable as 
though anger and resentment could never enter our hearts. 
We were so courteous, indeed, that we permitted them to 
handle our persons with a degree of freedom which appeared 
to them unaccountable — unless we were so timid that we feared 
to give offense. If we had been so many sheep, we could not 
have borne a milder or more innocent aspect. Our bold friends, 
reeling and .jostling one another in their eagerness to offend, 
seized their spears and shields, and began to chant in baccha- 
nalian tones a song that was tipsily discordant. Some seized 
their slings and flung stones to a great distance, which we ap- 
plauded. Then one of them, under the influence of wine, and 
spirits elated by the chant, waxed bolder, and looked as though 
he would aim at myself, seated observant but mute in the stern 
of my boat. I made a motion with my hand as though de- 
precating such an action. The sooty villain seemed to become 
at once animated by an hysteric passion, and whirled his stone 
over my head, a loud drunken cheer applauding his boldness. 

*' Perceiving that they were becoming wanton through our 
apparently mild demeanor, I seized my revolver and fired rap- 
idly into the water, in the direction the stone had been flung, 
and the effect was painfully ludicrous. The bold, insolent 
bacchanals had at the first shot sprung overboard, and were 
swimming for dear life to Ngevi, leaving their canoe in our 
hands. 'Friends, come back, come back; why this fear?' 
cried out our interpreter; ' we simply wished to show you that 
we had weapons as well-^as yourselves. Come, take your 
canoe; see, we push it away for you to seize it.' We eventu- 
ally won them back with smiles. We spoke to them as sweetly 














S:i:...u;:aiiililBliii!:iiiitii!a;:..:i*ig 



STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT. 521 

as before. The natives were more respectful in their de- 
meanor. They laughed, cried out admiringly; imitated the 
pistol shots; 'Boom, boom, boom,' they shouted. They then 
presented me with a bunch of bananas. We became enthusi- 
astic admirers of each other." 

Encamping upon the shore of the Munulu Kiver for a stormy 
night, they were actually attacked by the natives as they 
sheered off the next morning ; and the steersman was wounded. 
Stanley discharged his revolver at them, and one fell, wound- 
ed; the others took the hint and retreated. 

Coasting along the country of Uvuma, they found suddenly 
thirteen native canoes emerging from a small inlet. Not one 
had any articles on board but the first, which offered twenty 
potatoes for sale. The explorer offered various kinds of beads 
in return for the yams, but all were indignantly rejected; and 
the white man became convinced that they had not come to 
trade with him. 

"They waxed noisy, then insolent, and finally aggressive. 
They seized one thing after another with a cunning dexterity, 
which required all our attention to divine their purposes ; and 
while we were occupied with the truculent rabble in our front, 
a movement of which we were unaware was being made suc- 
cessfully at the stern; but the guide, Saramba, catching sight 
of a thief, warned me to cast my eyes behind, and I detected 
him in the act of robbery. Becoming assured by this time that 
the Wavuma had arrived in such numbers for the sole purpose of 
capturing what appeared to them an apparently easy prey, and 
that their maneuvers were evidently intended to embarrass us 
and distract our attention, I motioned them to depart with 
my hand, giving orders to the boat's crew at the same time to 
make ready their oars. This movement, of necessity, caused 
them to disclose their purposes, and they manifested them by 
audaciously laying their hands on the oars, and arresting the 
attempts of the boat's crew to row. Either we were free or we 
were not. If yet free men, with the power to defend our free- 
dom, we must be permitted to continue our voyage on the sea 
without let or hindrance. If not free men, we had first to be 
disarmed. I seized my gun, and motioned them again to de- 
part. With a loud, scornful cry, they caught up their spears 
and shields, and prepared to launch their weapons. To be 
saved, we must act quickly; and I fired over their heads; and 
as they fell back into the boats, I bade my men pull away. 
Forming a li^e on each side of us, about thirty yards off, they 
flung their spears, which the boat's crew avoided by dropping 



522 STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT 

into the bottom of the boat. The canoes astern clapped their 
hands gleefully, showing me a large bunch of Matunda beads 
which had been surreptitiously abstracted from the stern of 
the boat. I seized my repeating rifle and fired in earnest, to 
right and to left. The fellow with the beads was doubled up, 
and the boldest of those nearest to me was disabled. The big 
rifle, aimed at the water-line of two or three of the canoes, 
perforated them through and through, which compelled the 
crews to pay attention to their sinking crafts, and permitted 
us to continue our voyage." 

More friendly natives were found as they proceeded ; and 
they were most hospitably entertained by the chief of Buka. 
He dispatched a messenger instantly upon their arrival to the 
Kabaka Mtesa to announce the coming of a stranger in the 
land; declaring, at the same time, his intention notto abandon 
the travelers until he had brought them face to face with the 
great monarch of Equatorial Africa. He smilingly assured 
them that in Mtesa they would find a friend, and that they 
might sleep secure under his protection. 

April 2, under the escort of this chief, they proceeded on 
their way, purposely making their voyages short, in order that 
the Kabaka might be informed in time of their coming. Just 
as they were about to depart the next morning, they saw six 
beautiful canoes, crowded with men, coming round a point; 
and for a short period were under the impression that they 
were a piratical fleet on its way to intercept them. On survey- 
ing them with his glass, Stanley saw that they were dressed in 
in w^hite, like the Wangwana; and received the information 
from his guides that these were the Kabaka's people. As they 
approached, the commander was seen arraying himself for the 
occasion. He donned a bead-work head-dress, over which long 
white cock's feathers waved; and a snowy white and long-hair- 
ed goat-skin, while a crimson robe, depending from his should- 
ers, completed the full dress. 

In the middle of the Bay of Kadzi, they encountered, and a 
most ceremonious greeting took place. This was the message 
which was brought, as it has been recorded by Stanley: 

*' The Kabaka sends me with many salaams to you. He is in 
great hopes that you will visit him, and has encamped at Usa- 
vara, that he may be near the lake when you come. He does 
not know from what land you have come, but I have a swift 
messenger with a canoe who will not stop until he gives all 
the news to the Kabaka. His mother dreamed a^dream a few 
nights ago, and in her dream she saw a white man on this lake 



FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. 5'23 

in a boat coming this way, and the next morning she told the 
Kabaka, and lo ! you have come. Give me your answer, that 
^Imay send the messenger. Twiyanzi-yanzi-yanzi!^'' [Thanks, 
thanks, thanks.] 

The embassador persuaded the traveler to rest at the village 
of Kadzi for a day, that he might see the hospitality of the 
country. The only difficulty with which Stanley met here, 
was in restraining the excessive extortions of Magassa, the en- 
voy of Mtesa. Uganda was new to the explorer then; he was 
not aware how supreme the Kabaka's authority was; he sus- 
pected that the vast country which recognized his power was 
greatly abused, and grieved that these new acts of tyranny 
were inflicted for his sake. 

April 5, they approached Usavara, the hunting village of the 
Kabaka; but Stanley must himself tell of his reception: 

*' When about two miles from Usavara, we saAV what we es- 
timated to be thousands of people arranging themselves in 
order on gently rising ground. When about a mile from the 
shore, Magassa gave the order to signal our advance with fire- 
arms, and was at once obeyed by his dozen musketeers. Half 
a mile off I saw that the people on the shore had formed them- 
selves into two dense lines, at the ends of which stood several 
finely dressed men, arrayed in crimson and black and snowy 
white. As we neared the beach, volleys of musketry burst out 
from the long lines. Magassa's canoes steered outward to 
right and left, while two or three hundred heavily loaded guns 
announced to all around that the white man, of whom Mtesa's 
mother had dreamed, had landed. Numerous kettles and bass 
drums sounded a noisy welcome, and flags, banners and ban- 
nerets waved, and the people gave a great shout. Yery much 
amazed at all this ceremonious and pompous greeting, I strode 
up toward the great standard, near which stood a short young 
man, dressed in a crimson robe which covered an immaculately 
white dress of bleached cotton, before whom Magassa, who 
had hurried ashore, kneeled reverently, and turning to me 
begged me to understand that this short young man was the 
Katekiro. Not knowing very well who the Katekiro was, I 
only bowed, which, strange to say, was imitated by him, only 
that his bow was far more profound and stately than mine. I 
was perplexed, confused, embarrassed, and I believe I blushed 
inwardly at all this regal reception, though I hope I did not 
betray my embarrassment. 

*'A dozen well-dressed people now came forward, and 
grasping my hand declared in the Swahili language that I was 



STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT. 525 

welcome to Uganda. The Katekiro motioned with his head, 
and amid a perfect concourse of. beaten drums, which drowned 
all conversation, we walked side by side, and followed by cu- 
rious thousands, to a court-yard, and a circle of grass-thatched 
huts surrounding a larger house, which I was told were my 
quarters. 

"The Katekiro and several of the chiefs accompanied me to 
my new hut, and a very sociable conversation took place. 
There was present a native of Zanzibar, named Tori, whom I 
shortly discovered to be chief drummer, engineer, and general 
jack-of -all-trades for the Kabaka. From this clever, ingenious 
man I obtained the information that the Katekiro was the 
prime minister, or the Kabaka's deputy. * * * * Wsi- 
ganda, as I found subsequently, were not in the habit of re- 
maining incurious before a stranger. Hosts of questions were 
fired off at me about my health, my journey and its aim, Zanzibar, 
Europe and its peoples, the seas and the heavens, sun, moon 
and stars, angels and devils, doctors, priests, and craftsmen in 
general; in fact, as the representative of nations who * know 
everything,' I was subjected to a most searching examination, 
and in one hour and ten minutes it was declared unanimously 
that I had 'passed.' Forthwith after the acclamation, the 
stately bearing became merged into a more friendly one, and 
long, thin, nervous black hands were pushed into mine en- 
thusiastically, from which I gathered that they applauded me 
as if I had won the honors of a senior wrangler. Some pro- 
ceeded direct to the Kabaka and imf ormed him that the white 
man was a genius, knew everything, and was remarkably polite 
and sociable ; and the Kabaka was said to have ' rubbed his 
hands as though he had just come into possession of a treas- 
ure.'" 

After this searching examination was concluded, and re- 
ported to Mtesa, that chief dispatched refreshments for his 
guest. "These few things," as they ^ere styled in the mes- 
sage accompanying them, were fourteen fat oxen, sixteen goats 
and sheep, a hundred bunches of bananas, three dozen fowls, 
four wooden jars of milk, four baskets of sweet potatoes, fifty 
ears of green Indian corn, a basket of rice, twenty fresh eggs, 
and ten pots of maramba wine. When the traveler had eaten 
and was satisfied, the Kabaka would send for him. 

Promptly at the appointed hour, two pages came to summon 
the traveler to the presence of the foremost man of Central 
Africa. 

"Forthwith we issued from our courtyard, five of the boat's 



STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT. 527 

crew on each side of me armed with Snider rifles. We reach 
a short broad street, at the end of which is a hut. Here the 
Kabaka is seated with a number of chiefs, Wakungu [gener- 
als] and Watongeleh [colonels] ranked from the throne in two 
opposing kneeling or seated lines, the ends being closed in by 
drummers, guards, executioners, pages, etc., etc. As we ap- 
proached the nearest group, it opened, and the drummers beat 
mighty sounds. Tori's drumming being conspicuous from its 
sharper beat. The foremost man of Equatorial Africa rises 
and advances, and all the kneeling and seated lines rise — gen- 
erals, colonels, chiefs, cooks, butlers, pages, executioners, 
etc., etc. 

The Kabaka, a tall, clean-faced, large-eyed, nervous-look- 
ing, thin man, clad in a tarbush, black robe, with a white shirt 
belted with gold, shook my hands warmly and impressively, and 
bowing not ungracefully, invited me to be seated on an iron 
stool. I waited for him to show the example, and then I and 
all the others seated ourselves. 

"He first took a deliberate survey of me, which I returned 
with interest, for he was as interesting to nie as I was to him. 
His impression of me was that I was younger than Speke, not 
so tall, but better dressed. This I gathered from his criti- 
cisms as confided to his chiefs and favorites. 

"My impression of him was that he and I would become 
better acquainted, that I should make a convert of him, and 
make him useful to Africa." 

It will be remembered that Speke's description of this 
potentate was not a very favorable one — vain and heartless, a 
wholesale tyrant and murderer, delighting in fat women. It 
had been his custom, in receiving a visitor with honors, to 
have his executioners strike off the heads of several slaves or 
subjects on the spot. Stanley foundhim intelligent, and well 
worthy the heartiest sympathies that Europe had to give him. 
What was the reason for this change? Stanley answers in 
his journal, in the entry written at this very time : 

'* I see that Mtesa is a powerful emperor, with great influ- 
ence over his neighbors. * * * * I have witnessed with as- 
tonishment such order and law as is obtainable in semi-civilized 
countries. All this is the result of a poor Muslim's labor; his 
name is Muley bin Salim. He it was who first began teaching 
here the doctrines of Islam. False and contemptible as these 
doctrines are, they are preferable to the ruthless instincts of a 
savage despot, whom Speke and Grant left wallowing in the 
blood of women, and I honor the memory of Muley bin Salim 



528 



STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT 



— Muslim and slave 
trader though he be — - 
the poor priest who had 
wrought this happy 
change. With a strong 
desire to improve still 
more the character of 
Mtesa, I shall begin 
building on the founda- 
tion stones laid by Mu- 
ley bin Salim. I shall 
destroy his belief in Is- 
lam, and teach the doc- 
trines of Jesus of Naza- 
reth." 

Two days after his 
arrival at Usavara, 
Mtesa distinguished 
'' Stamlee" by holding 
what he termed a re- 
view of his fleet, forty 
canoes, holding some 
twelve hundred men. 
*' The captain of each 
canoe was dressed in a 
white cotton shirt and 
a cloth head-cover, 
neatly folded turban 
fashion, while the ad- 
miral wore over his 
shirt a crimson jacket 
profusely decorated 
with gold braid, and 
on his head the red 
fez of Zanzibar. Each 
captain, as he passed 
us, seized shield and 
spear, and with the 
bravado of a matador 
addressing the Judge 
of the Plaza to behold 
his prowess, went 
through the perform- 
ance of defense and 



I5i:lte;i^ 




FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. 529 

attack by water. The admiral won the greatest applause, for 
he was the Hector of the fleet, and his actions, though not 
remarkably graceful, were certainly remarkably extravagant. 
The naval review over, Mtesa commanded one of the cap- 
tains of the canoes to try and discover a crocodile or hippopot- 
amus. After fifteen minutes he returned with the report that 
there was a young crocodile asleep on a rock about two hun- 
dred yards away. 

" *Now, Stamlee,' said Mtesa, ' show my women how white 
men can shoot.' 

* ' [For the great chief was attended by a considerable number 
of the women composing his harem.] To represent all the 
sons of Japhet on this occasion was a great responsibility, but 
I am happy to say that — whether owing to the gracious influ- 
ense of some unseen divinity who has the guardianship of 
their interests or whether from mere luck — I nearly severed 
the head of the young crocodile from its body at the distance 
of one hundred yards with a three-ounce ball, an act which 
was accepted as proof that all white men are dead shots." 

Three days later, the court broke up its hunting-lodge and 
returned to the capital, Stanley following at a later hour, since 
it was necessary to house his boat from the sun. The road was 
eight feet wide, through jungle and garden and forest and 
field. We need not linger over the description of the beauti- 
ful scenery enjoyed during the three hours' march before they 
came in sight of a large cluster of tall, conical grass huts, in 
the center of which rose a spacious, lofty barn-like structure. 
The large building, they were told, was the palace, the hill, 
Rubaga, and the cluster of huts, the imperial capital! 

A surprise awaited Stanley here. Received by Mtesa short- 
ly after his arrival, he was informed that he would meet a 
white man at the palace the next day. 

*' A white man, or a Turk?" 

*' A white man, like yourself," repeated Mtesa. 

* ' No ; impossible ! ' ' 

*' Yes, you will see; he come from Masr (Cairo), from Gor- 
doom (Gordon) Pasha." 

" The white man, reported to be coming the next day, ar- 
rived at noon with great eclat and flourishes of trumpets, the 
sounds of which could be heard all over the capital. Mtesa 
hurried off a page to invite me to his burzah. I hastened up 
by a private entrance. Mtesa and all his chiefs, guards, pages, 
executioners, claimants, guests, drummors and fifers were al- 
ready there, en grande tenue. 



STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT. 531 

Mtesa was in a fever, as I could see by the paling of the 
color under his eyes and his glowing eye-balls. The chiefs 
shared their master's excitement. 

*' ' What shall we do,' he asked, 'to welcome him?' 

*'' Oh, form your troops in line from the entrance to the 
burzah down to the gates of the outer court, and present arms, 
and as he comes within the gate, let your drums and fifes 
sound a loud welcome.' 

*'' Beautiful!' said Mtesa. 'Hurry, Tori, Chambarango, 
Sekebobo; form them in two lines just as Stamlee says. Oh, 
that is beautiful! And shall we fire guns, Stamlee?" 

" * No, not until you shake hands with him; and as he is a 
soldier, let the guards fire; then they will not injure any one." 

" Mtesa's flutter of excitement on this occasion made me 
think that there must have been a somewhat similar scene be- 
fore my landing at Usavara, and that Tori must have been 
consulted frequently upon the form of ceremony to be adopt- 
ed." 

The stranger was M. Linant de Belief onds, a member of the 
Gordon Pasha Expedition ; and he and Mr. Stanley became 
excellent friends at once after this unexpected meeting in the 
heart of Africa. The coming of the Frenchman advanced one 
of Stanley's objects considerably. The envoy of the two great 
newspapers had, as we have already heard from his own lips, 
determined to make an effort to convert Mtesa to Christianity. 
It was his first missionary work; for up to the period of his first 
journey into the interior of Africa at least, he had " cared for 
none of these things." The four months' intercourse with 
Livingstone, however, close and constant as it was, had 
wrought a change; it was owing to no set effort of the elder 
man ; but the influence of his life and character taught Stan- 
ley the worth of the religion which he professed. On the even- 
ing of the day that the traveler had his first interview with 
Mtesa, he wrote in his diary : 

"In this man I see the possible fruition of Livingstone's 
hopes, for with his aid the civilization of Equatorial Africa 
becomes feasible. I remember the ardor and love which ani- 
mated Livingstone when he spoke of Sekeletu; had he seen 
Mtesa, his ardor and love for him had been tenfold, and his 
pen and tongue would have been employed in calling all good 
men to assist him." 

At every interview between them, the white man had made 

some effort to turn the conversation to the subject of religion ; 

and not in vain. Mtesa and his principal chiefs soon became 
34 



532 STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT 

SO absorbingly interested in the story of the Gospel as Stanley 
gave it to them that little of other business was done. Of 
course only the bare outlines were touched upon — those es- 
sential points which are accepted by all, and which are as 
intelligible to the savage and the child as to the doctor of 
divinity. 

** I showed the difference in character between Him whom 
white men love and adore, and Mohammed, whom the Arabs re- 
vere ; how Jesus endeavored to teach all mankind that we should 
love all men, excepting none; while Mohammed taught his 
followers that the sla3'ing of the pagan and unbeliever was an 
act that merited Paradise. I left it to Mtesa and his chiefs to 
decide which was the worthier character. I also sketch- 
ed in brief the history of religious belief from Adam to Mo- 
hammed. I had also begun to translate to him the Ten Com- 
mandments, and Idi, the emperor's writer, transcribed in 
Kiganda the words of the Law as given to him in choice Swa- 
hili by Robert Feruzi, one of my boat's crew, and a pupil of 
the Universities' Mission at Zanzibar." 

M. Linant was a devout French Protestant. To him, short- 
ly after his arrival, Mtesa directed certain inquiries regarding 
things which " Stamlee" had told him. To the astonishment 
of the king, the newcomer employed nearly the same words that 
had been used by his first instructor. " The remarkable fact 
that two white men, who had never met before, one having 
arrived from the southeast, the other from the north, should 
nevertheless both know the same things, and respond in 
the same words, charmed the popular mind without the 
burzah as a wonder, and was treasured in Mtesa's memory as 
being miraculous." 

But Stanley must be looking after the men whom he had 
left at Kagehyi, leaving the completion of his missionary work 
for the present. Mtesa gave him permission to depart, and or- 
dered Magassa to have ready thirty canoes to serve as escort. 
M. Linant remained at the capital, intending to stay there until 
Stanley's return, which was fixed for a month from the date 
of departure, if not earlier. It may be incidentally mentioned 
here that he waited for six weeks ; but Stanley having been 
detained beyond that time, was obliged to go on his way. En 
route to Ismalia, he was attacked by several thousand Wan- 
yoro, the fight lasting for fourteen hours. Escaping these, and 
reaching Gen. Gordon's headquarters in safety, he was sent on 
another mission, and being attacked by a party of Bari near 
Lahore,' he and his thirty-six soldiers were massacred. 



FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. 533 

Escorted by Magassa, who had not been able to procure the 
thirty canoes which Mtesa had commanded, Stanley set out up- 
on his journey April 17, 1875. The return voyage was along 
the western coast of the lake. No attempt was made to as- 
cend the Katonga, with its almost imperceptible current; but 
Stanley resolved to learn something of the Alexandra Nile, or 
Kagera. The current of this river, however, proved so strong 
that they made but little headway against it; and after as- 
cending it for three miles, gave up the project. This stream 
is called by the natives " the mother of the river at Jinja," i. 
e., Ripon Falls, in the Victoria Nile. 

Magassa had returned with the few canoes that he had been 
able to prepare, to see if others could not be obtained. From 
two days after the start, then, the Lady Alice and her crew 
were alone on the journey. Her commander fully expected 
Magassa to overtake him on the 27th of April, and for that 
reason steered to Alice Island, where some food was pur- 
chased. That same night they reached Barker's Island, in the 
Bumbireh group ; and here they spent a most miserable night, 
in a pouring rain, with nothing to eat ; for the provisions ob- 
tainable at Alice Island had been barely sufficient for one meal. 
The next morning dawned bright and clear, and they set sail for 
Bumbireh itself, about two miles away ; and ran down the 
coast in search of a haven for their boat while they should be 
bartering their beads for edibles. 

*' As soon as we had sailed a little distance along the coast, 
we caught sight of a few figures which broke the even and 
smooth outline of the grassy summit, and heard the well-known 
melodious war-cries employed by most of the Central African 
tribes: ' Hehu-a hehu u-u-uP loud, long-drawn, and ringing. 

" The figures increased in number, and fresh voices joined 
in the defiant and alarming note. Still, hungry wretches as we 
were, environed by difficulties of all kinds, just beginning to 
feel warm after the cold and wet of the night before, with 
famine gnawing at our vitals, leagues upon leagues of sea be- 
tween us and our friends at Usukuma, and nothing eatable in 
our boat, we were obliged to risk something reminding ourselves 
that * there are no circumstances so desperate which Provi- 
dence may not relieve.' 

" At 9 A. M. we discovered a cove near the southeast end of 
the long island, and pulled slowly into it. Immediately the 
natives rushed down the slopes, shouting war-cries and utter- 
ing fierce ejaculations. When about fifty yards from the shore, 
I bade the men cease rowing; but Safeni and Baraka said; 



STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT. 535 

'* ' It is almost always the case, master, with savages. They 
cry out, and threaten, and look big, but you will see that all //^aY 
noise will cease as soon as they hear us speak. Be«des, if we 
leave here without food, where shall we obtain it?' " 

To this argument even Stanley could find no immediate an- 
swer: and while he was considering the difficult question, four 
of his men resumed their oars, and impelled the boat slowly 
onward ; while Saf eni and Baraka prepared themselves to ex- 
plain to the natives who came rushing down to the water's 
edge. Some of these made ready stones and other w^eapons. 

*' We were now about ten yards from the beach, and Saf eni 
and Baraka spoke, earnestly pointing to their mouths, and by 
gestures explaining that their bellies were empty. They smiled 
with insinuating faces; uttered the words 'brothers,' ' friends,' 
' good fellows,' most volubly ; cunningly interpolated the words 
Mtesa, the Kabaka, Uganda, and Antari, king of Ihangiro, to 
which Bumbireh belongs. Safeni and Baraka's pleasant volu- 
bility seemed to have produced a good effect, for the stones 
were dropped, the bows were unstrung, and the lifted spears 
lowered, to assist the steady, slow-walking pace with which they 
now advanced. Safeni and Baraka turned to me triumphantly 
and asked : 

*' * What did we say, master?' 

''And then, with engaging frankness, invited the natives, 
who were now about two hundred in number, to come closer. 
The natives consulted a little while, and several — now smiling 
pleasantly themselves, advanced leisurely into the water until 
they touched the boat's prow. They stood a few seconds talking 
sweetly, when suddenly with a rush they ran the boat ashore, 
and then all the others, seizing hawser and gunwale, dragged 
her about twenty yards over the rocky beach high and dry, 
leaving us almost stupefied with astonishment ! 

*'Then ensued a scene which beggars description. Pan- 
demonium — all its devils armed, raged around us. A forest of 
spears w^ere levelled ; thirty or forty bows were drawn taut ; 
as many barbed arrows seemed already on the wing; thick, 
knotty clubs waved above our heads ; tw^o hundred screaming 
black demons jostled with each other, and struggled for room 
to vent their fury, or for an opportunity to deliver one crush- 
ing blow or thrust at us. 

"In the meantime, as soon as the first symptoms of this 
manifestation of violence had been observed, I had sprung to 
my feet, each hand armed with a loaded self -cocking revolver, 
to kill and be killed. But the apparent hopelessness of inflict- 



536 STANLEr CEOSSES THE DARK CONTINENT. 

irig much iajury upon such a large crowd restrained me, and 
Safeni turned to me, almost cowed to dumbness by the loud 
fury around us, and pleaded with me to be patient. I com- 
plied, seeing that I should get no aid from my crew; but, while 
bitterly blaming myself for having yielded — against my in- 
stincts — to placing myself in the power of such savages, I 
vowed that if I escaped this once, my own judgment should 
guide my actions for the future. 

"I assumed a resigned air, though I still retained my revolv- 
ers. My crew also bore the first outburst of the tempest of 
shrieking rage which assailed them with almost sublime imper- 
turbability. Safeni crossed his arms with the meekness of a 
saint. Baraka held his hands palms outward, asking with 
serene benignity : 

" * Wh^i, my friends, ails you? Do you fear empty hands 
and smiling people like us? We are friends, we came as 
friends to buy food, two or three bananas, a few mouthfuls 
of grain or potatoes, or muliogo (cassava), and, if you will 
permit it, we will depart as friends.' 

*'Our demeanor had a great effect. The riot and noise 
seemed to be subsiding, when some fifty newcomers rekindled 
the smouldering fury. Again the forest of spears swayed on 
the launch, again the knotty clubs were whirled aloft, again 
the bows were drawn, and again the barbed arrows seemed 
flying. Safeni received a push which sent him tumbling, little 
Kirango received a blow on the head with a spear-staff, 
Saramba gave a cry as a club descended on his back. 

*'I sprang up this time to remonstrate, with the two revol- 
vers in my left hand. I addressed myself to an elder, who 
seemed to be restraining the people from proceeding too far. 
I showed him beads, cloth, wire, and invoked the names of 
Mtesa, and Antari their king. 

"The sight of the heaps of beads and cloth I exposed 
awakened, however, the more deliberate passions of selfish- 
ness and greed in each heart. An attempt at massacre, they 
began to argue, would certainly entail the loss of some of 
themselves. ' Guns might be seized and handled with terrible 
effect even by dying men, and who knows what those little 
iron things in the white man's hands are?' they seemed to be 
asking themselves. The elder, whatever he thought, respond- 
ed with an affectation of indignation, raised his stick, and to 
right and left of him drove back the demoniac crew. Other 
prominent men now assisted this elder, whom we subsequently 
discovered to be Shekka, the king of Bumbireh. 



FROM OCEAN TO OCEAJST. 537 

^'Shekka, then, having thus bestirred himself, beckoned to 
half a dozen men and walked away a few yards behind the 
mass. It was the ^ shauri,' dear to a free and independent 
African's heart, that was about to be held. Half the crowd 
followed the king and his council, while the other half re- 
mained to indulge their violent, vituperative tongues on us, 
and to continually menace us with either club or spear. An 
audacious party came round the stern of the boat and, with 
superlatively hideous gestures, affronted me; one of them 
even gave a tug at my hair; thinking it was a wig. I reveng- 
ed myself by seizing his hand, and suddenly bending it back, 
almost dislocated it, causing him to howl with pain. His com- 
rades swayed their lances, but I smilingly looked at them, for 
all idea of self-preservation had now almost fled. 

"The issue had surely arrived. There had been just one 
brief moment of agony when I reflected how unlovely death 
appears in such guise as that in which it then threatened me. 
What would my people think as they anxiously awaited the 
never-returning master? What would Pocock and Barker say 
when they heard of the tragedy of Bumbireh? And my friends 
in America and Europe ! Tut, it is only a brief moment of 
pain, and then what can the ferocious dogs do more? It is a 
consolation that if anything it will be short, sharp, sudden — a 
gasp, and then a silence — forever and forever! And after 
that, I was ready for the fight and for death. 

*"Now, my black friends, do your worst; anything you 
choose; I am ready.' 

"A messenger from the king and council arrives, and beck- 
ons Safeni. I said to him: 'Safeni, use your wit.' 

" * Please God, master,' he replied." 

The African, like all savages, is possessed by a curiosity easily 
aroused, and the natives followed Safeni, observing his every 
motion as he endeavored to make himself understood. As Mr. 
Stanley observes, Safeni proved himself "a born diplomat." 
He used all the arts of the pantomime. His face was sweet and 
smiling; his hands made most eloquent gestures ; he exhibited 
all the graces and eloquence of the advocate, pleading before 
the jury for a client in danger for his life. In a short time he 
came back to his party radiant with hope, declaring it w^as all 
right, that they were safe ; but that the savages insisted they 
should stay with them until they should hold their s/iaz^n*, when 
they would sell food to the starving party. But even as he was 
relating this, several men came forward and suddenly grabbed 
all the oars. Safeni w^as about to resist, but Stanley called out: 



5B8 STANLEY CROSSES THE BARK CONTINENT. 

*' 'Let them go, Safeni!' 

*' A loud cheer greeted the seizure of the oars. I became con- 
vinced now that this one little act would lead to others ; for man 
is the same all over the world. Set a beggar on horseback and 
he will ride to the devil; give a slave an inch, and he will take 
an ell; if a man submit once, he must be prepared to submit 
again." 

It was truly a desperate case, yet Stanley and his men could 
do nothing. The shauri proceeded; a messenger came de- 
manding gifts; they were handed over without a word of pro- 
test. Noon came; and the savages, sure of their prey, with- 
drew to their villages for food and drink; for, as the poet 
asks, " Where is the man who can live without dining?" The 
half -starved men in the boat were visited by the women, who 
consoled them with the assurance of being killed very soon; 
if, however, they could induce Shekka to make blood-brother- 
hood or eat honey with one of them, peace would ensue and 
they would be safe. 

** About 3 P. M. we heard a number of drums beaten. 
Safeni was told that if the natives collected again he must en- 
deavor to induce Shekka with gifts to go through the process 
of blood-brotherhood. 

'* A long line of natives in full war costume appeared on the 
crest of the terrace, on which the banana grove and the vil- 
lage of Kajurri stood. Their faces were smeared with black 
and white pigments. Almost all of them bore the peculiar 
shields of Usongora. Their actions were such as the dullest- 
witted of us recognized as indicating hostilities. Even Safeni 
and Baraka were astounded, and their first words were: 

'* * Prepare, master. Truly, this is trouble.' 

"* Never mind me,' I replied; *I have been ready these 
three hours. Are you ready, your guns and revolvers loaded, 
and your ears open this time?' 

*' * We are,' they all firmly answered. 

" * Don't be afraid; be quite cool. We will try, while they 
are collecting together, the women's suggestion. Go frankly 
and smiling, Safeni, up to Shekka, on the top of that hill, and 
offer him these th.vQQ fundo of beads, and ask him to exchange 
blood with you.' 

*' Safeni proceeded readily on his errand, for there was no 
danger to him bodily while we were within a hundred and fifty 
yards, and their full number as yet unprepared. For ten min- 
utes he conversed with them, while the drums kept beating, 
and numbers of men painted for war were increasing Shekka's 



rROM OCEAN TO OCEAK. 539 

force. Some of them entertained us by demonstrating with 
their spears how they fought; others whirled their clubs like 
tipsy Irishmen at Donnybrook fair. Their gestures were wild, 
their voices were shrill and fierce, they were kindling them- 
selves into a fighting fever. 

" Safeni returned. Shekka had refused the pledge of peace. 
The natives now mustered over three hundred. Presently fif- 
ty bold fellows came rushing down, uttering a shrill cry. With- 
out hesitation they came straight to the boat, and hissing 
something to us, seized our Kiganda drum. It was such a 
small affair, we did not resist ; still the manner in which it 
was taken completely undeceived us, if any small hope of 
peace remained. Loud applause greeted the act of gallantry. 

*' Then two men came down toward us, and began to drive 
some cows away that were grazing between us and the men on 
the hill. Safeni asked of one of them: 

'''Why do you do that?' 

" ' Because we are going to begin fighting presently, and if 
3^ou are men, you may begin to prepare yourselves,' he said, 
scornfully. 

"'Thanks, my bold friend,' I muttered to myself ; 'those 
are the truest words we have heard to-day. ' 

" The two men were retiring up the hill. 

" 'Here, Safeni,' I said, 'take these two fine red cloths in 
your hand ; walk slowly up after them a little way, and the 
minute you hear my voice run back; and you, my boys, this is 
for life and death, mind; range yourselves on each side of the 
boat, lay your hands on it carelessly, but with a firm grip ; 
and when I give the word, push it with the force of a hundred 
men down the hill into the water. Are you all ready, and do 
you think you can do it? Otherwise we might as well begin 
fighting where we are.' 

" ' Yes, Inshallah, master,' they cried out with one voice. 

"'Go, Safeni!' 

" I waited until he had walked fifty yards away, and saw 
that he acted precisely as I had instructed him. 

" ' Push, my boys ! Push for your lives ! ' 

" The crew bent their heads and strained their arms. The 
boat began to move, and there was a hissing, grinding noise 
below me. I seized my double-barreled elephant rifle and 
shouted : ' Safeni ! Safeni ! Return ! ' 

" The natives were quick-eyed. They saw the boat moving, 
and with one accord they swept down the hill uttering the 
most fearful cries. My boat was at the water's edge. 



STANLEY CROSSES THE BARK CONTINENT. 541 

'' ' Shoot her into the lake, my men ; never mind the water!' 

*'And clear of all obstructions she darted out upon the lake. 
Safeni stood for an instant on the water's edge, with the cloths 
in his hand. The foremost of a crowd of natives was about 
twenty yards from him. He raised his spear and balanced him- 
self. 

" ' Spring into the water, man, head first?' I cried. 

" The balanced spear was about to fly, and another man was 
preparing his weapon for a deadly cast, when I raised my gun 
and the bullet ploughed through him and through the second. 
The bowmen halted and drew their bows. I sent two charges 
of duck-shot into their midst with terrible effect. The natives 
retreated from the beach on which the boat had lately lain. 

" Having checked the natives, I assisted one of my men into 
the boat, and ordered him to lend a hand to the others, while 
I reloaded my big guns, keeping my eyes on the natives. There 
was a point about a hundred yards in length on the east, which 
sheltered the cove. Some of the natives made a rush for this, 
but my guns commanded the exposed position, and they were 
obliged to retire. 

*' The crew seized their rifles, but I told them to leave them 
alone, and to tear the bottom-boards out of the boat and use 
them as paddles ; for there were two hippopotami advancing 
on us open-mouthed, and it seemed as if we were to be crush- 
ed in the water after such a narrow escape from the ferocious 
people ashore. I permitted one of the hippos to approach 
within ten yards, and, aiming between his eyes, perforated his 
skull with a three-ounce ball, and the second received such a 
wound that we were not molested by him. 

"Meanwhile, the savages, bafiled and furious at seeing their 
prey escape, had rushed, after a short consultation, to man two 
canoes that were drawn up on the beach at the northwest corner 
of the cove. Twice I dropped men as they were endeavoring to 
launch the boats; but they persisted, and finally launching 
them, pursued us vigorously. Two other canoes were seen 
coming down the coast from the eastern side of the island. 
Unable to escape, we stopped after we had got out of the cove 
and waited for them. 

*' My elephant rifle was loaded with explosive balls for this 
occasion. Four shots killed five men and sank two of the 
canoes. The two others retired to assist their friends out of 
the water. They attempted nothing further, but some of 
those on shore had managed to reach the point, and as we re- 
sumed our paddles, we heard a voice cry out: 



542 STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT 

" 'Go and die in the Nyanza!' 

*'And saw them shoot their arrows, which fell harmlessly a 
few yards behind us. We were saved!" 

It was ^ve o'clock in the evening; they had had no food all 
day, and had only four bananas in the boat for twelve hungry 
men. The weak boards which they had for paddles did not 
answer the purpose very well, and in the dead calm which suc- 
ceeded a gentle breeze, they were able to make only three- 
quarters of a mile an hour. A gale came up, and too weak to 
paddle any more they gave themselves up to the fury of the 
winds. It sank at last, and ordering that one of the thwarts 
should be chopped up, Stanley made coffee with which to re- 
fresh his half -starved companions. 

They had had but little food before leaving Alice Island, on 
April 27 ; and this coffee, with the four bananas, was all that 
passed their lips until the afternoon of the 30th. They landed, 
then, on an uninhabited island; the leader shot a brace of 
large fat ducks; two of the men found some bananas, and 
two others found some luscious berries. 

Continuing their voyage, they landed at the cove of Wiru 
May 4, and bought some food of the natives. Two days later, 
after a storm that brought to mind the parting words of the 
natives of Bumbireh, they reached Kagehyi, and were heartily 
welcomed by the others. There was but one white man among 
the shore party, and Stanley inquired where Frederick Barker 
was, and why he did not come to meet them. 

"Because," answered Frank Pocock, his face clouding with 
the recollection of loss, "he died twelve days ago, and he lies 
there." 

As he spoke, he pointed to a low mound of earth by the lake. 
Thus two of the four white men who had set out from Zanzi- 
bar had died on the way; and the journey was not half done. 

It was Stanley's intention to return to Uganda with his full 
party, but the opposition of a chief whose territories lay be- 
tween Kagehyi and Mtesa's country made it impossible to make 
the journey by land, as he wished to do. He therefore decided 
to make it by water, as before; but had much difficulty in ob- 
taining canoes for the purpose. At last, after a personal visit to 
Lukongeh, the chief of Ukerewe, he succeeded in getting twenty- 
three. These were very old, and he at once set his men to work 
to repair them, while he began negotiations for provisions. The 
vessels were for the transportation of one hundred and fifty 
men, women and children; twelve thousand pounds of grain, 
five hundred pounds of rice, a hundred loads of beads, cloth 



FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. 543 

and wire, and thirty cases of ammunition. Most of the last- 
named article was on the Lady Alice. The flotilla sailed at 9 
A. M. on June 20; but before they reached the Miandereh 
Islands that night, five canoes had sunk, with five guns, one 
case of ammunition, and twelve hundred pounds of grain. 
Fortunately, all the people were saved ; but it was only by the 
most strenuous efforts on the part of Stanley and his men. It 
is in connection with their brave behavior this night that we 
first hear of the two brothers, Uledi and Shumari, whose names 
were afterward to be more prominent in the story. The 
canoes were thoroughly inspected the next day, and the work 
of repairing them was not shirked as it had been before start- 
ing from Kagehyi. 

Leaving a garrison of forty-four men at Eefuge Island, which 
they reached June 24, Stanley returned to Kagehyi for the 
last time; and rejoined the other party July 11. Leaving a 
garrison at Miandereh again (for his canoes were not numer- 
ous enough to transport the whole party at once) he went on 
his way toward LTganda. 

He must of course pass Bumbireh on his way thither; and 
it was necessary to give the chief of th^t island a lesson. The 
king of Iroba was captured ; and being a neighbor of the chief 
of Bumbireh, was held as a hostage until his subjects had 
captured Shekka. Fortunately, they were about this time re- 
inforced by a number of men whom Mtesa had dispatched to 
hunt up Stanley; so that the strength of the party now en- 
camped on Mahjiga Island was four hundred and seventy men. 
This was the condition of affairs when messengers came from 
Antari, king of Ihangiro, the superior of Shekka, demanding 
the release of that chief. It was promised that when they 
should be released, Antari's people would sell food to the trav- 
elers. But this was a mere pretext by which Antari sought to 
gain the confidence of Stanley, preparatory to a trial of 
strength; and when some of the Waganda, deceived by the 
apparent friendliness, ventured to Bumbireh, they were at- 
tacked and eight of them badly wounded, six dying from the 
effects of their injuries after the arrival of the party in 
Uganda. 

It was a question in Stanley's mind what course should be 
pursued. Had it been a purely military expedition there 
would of course have been no doubt; but for some time he 
hesitated about striking a blow except in direct self-defense. 
Finally, however, he decided that gratitude to Mtesa and his 
Waganda demanded that blood should atone for blood. 



544 STAIO^EY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT 

More than this, it was dangerous to leave such a deed un- 
avenged; for the savage cannot understand forbearance, 
which to him seems cowardice; patience, which is to him evi- 
dence of effeminacy. As he could not see any way to avoid 
the conflict, he determined to meet them on their own island, 
and by one decisive stroke break this overweening savage spirit. 
But Stanley's own words must tell of the just punishment in- 
flicted. 

"We steered straight towards the more exposed hill-slopes. 
The savages, imagining that we were about to effect a landing 
there, hurried from their coverts, between two thousand and 
three thousand in number. I examined the shores carefully, 
to see if I could discover the canoes which had conveyed this 
great number of warriors from the mainland. Meanwhile we 
pulled slowly, to afford them time to arrange themselves. 

" Arrived within a hundred yards of the land, we anchored 
in line, the stone anchors being dropped from midships that 
the broadsides might front the shore. I told Lukanjah of 
Ukerewe to ask the men of Bumbireh if they would make 
peace, whether we should be friends, or whether we should 
fight. 

^' ^ Nangu, nangu, nangul' (No, no, no!) they answered 
loudly, while they flourished spears and shields. 

" ' Will they not do anything to save Shekka?' 

'* * Nangu^ nangu! Keep Shekka; he is nobody. We have 
another M'kama' (king). 

"* Will they do nothing to save Antari's son?' [who also 
was held as a hostage.] 

" * Nangit^ nangu. Antari has many sons. We will do noth- 
ing but fight. If you had not come here, we should have come 
to you.' 

" * You will be sorry for it afterward.' 

*' Huh!' incredulously; we are ready; come on.' 

Further parley was useless ; so each man having taken aim 
was directed to fire into a group of fifty or thereabouts. The 
result was several killed and wounded. The savages, perceiv- 
ing the disastrous effect of our fire on a compact body, scat- 
tered, and came bounding down to the water's edge, some of 
the boldest advancing until they were hip-deep in water ; oth- 
ers, more cautious, sought the shelter of the cane-grass, 
whence they discharged many sheaves of arrows, all of which 
fell short of us. 

** We then moved to within fifty yards of the shore, to fire 
at close quarters, and each man was permitted to exercise him- 



FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. 545 

self as he best could. The savages gallantly held the water- 
line for an hour, and slung their stones with better effect than 
they shot their arrows. The spirit which animated them 
proved what they might have done had they succeeded in ef- 
fecting a landing at Mahyiga by night, but here, however, 
the spear, with which they generally fight, was quite useless. 

"Perceiving that their spirit was abating, we drew the 
canoes together, and made a feint as though we were about to 
rush forward by hundreds with their spears on the launch. 
The canoes were then suddenly halted, and a volley was fired 
into the spearmen, which quite crushed their courage, causing 
them to retreat up the hill far away from the scene. Our work 
of chastisement was complete. ' 

*'The Waganda spearmen, two hundred and thirty strong, 
who had been, up to this time, only interested spectators, now 
clamored loudly to be permitted to land, and to complete the 
work of vengeance. M'Kwanga was fierce in his demands; 
the Wangwana seconded the Waganda, and in their hot ardor 
several of the canoes rushed on the shore ; but as this extrem- 
ity was not my object, I resisted them; and when, despite my 
refusal, they persisted in their attempts to land, I threatened 
to fire on the first man, Mgwana or Mganda, who set foot on 
the shore; and this threat restored order." 

The way being thus cleared, they proceeded on their journey, 
and reached Dumo, in Uganda, a week later (August 12, 1875). 
Here they learned that Mtesa was making preparations for a 
war against the Wavuma. Before they reached Ntewi, he had 
already marched against Usoga. Two courses were open to 
Stanley; either he could attempt the journey to the Albert 
Nyanza unaided, or he could proceed to Mtesa's camp, and 
thence prosecute the journey. He decided upon the latter 
course, believing that the delay would be made up by the 
shorter route which Mtesa's help would enable him to take. 

He found the emperor of Uganda and his warlike court en- 
camped about the Ripon Falls. Mtesa received him with great 
eordiality, but informed him that it was not customary for 
strangers to proceed on their journey while the Kabaka was at 
war; if Stanley would but wait until he had chastised the in- 
solent Wavuma, he should have guides to Muta Nzige. Stan- 
ley was also informed that the natives of the country lying 
along the route, under their chief, Kabba Rega, were at war 
with the whites of Kaniessa (Gondokoro), and hence that a 
considerable force would be required. There was nothing for 
it, then, but to await the end of Mtesa's war. 



STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT. 547 

Mtesa attempted to end it by negotiations, but his peace 
party, dispatched to the Wavuina camp on Ingira Island, was 
massacred before his very eyes. He decided at length to give 
battle to the enemy daily becoming bolder and more boastful. 
The result was that the Wavuma were left masters of the situ- 
ation. Mtesa threatened that in the next battle, the chief who 
behaved cowardly should be burned, while his lands should be 
given to the peasant who distinguished himself. Let us again 
quote the words of Stanley : 

" The entire war-fleet of two hundred and thirty vessels 
rode gracefully on the calm gray waters of the channel. The 
line of battle, I observed, was formed by Chambarango, in com- 
mand of the right flank, with fifty canoes; Sambuzi, Kukavya, 
Chikwata and Saruti,all sub-chiefs, w^ere ranged with one hun- 
dred canoes under the command of Kauta, the imperial steward, 
to form the center ; the left flank was in charge of the gallant 
Mkwenda, who had eighty canoes. Tori commanded a force 
of musketeers, and with his four howitzers was stationed on 
the causeway, which was by this time two hundred yards from 
the shore. 

"In the above manner the fleet of vessels, containing some 
sixteen thousand men, moved to the attack upon Ingira. The 
center, defended by the flanks, which were to menace the 
rear of the Wavuma should they approach near the causeway, 
resolutely advanced to within thirty yards of Ingira, and pour- 
ed in a most murderous fire among the slingers of the island, 
who, imagining that the Waganda meant to carry the island 
by storm, boldly stood exposed, resolved to fight. But they 
were unable to maintain that courageous behavior long. 
Mkwenda then moved up from the left, and attacked with his 
musketeers the Wavuma on the right, riddling their canoes, 
and making matters specially hot for them in that quarter. 

** The Wavuma, seeing matters approaching a crisis, and not 

wishing to die tamely, manned their canoes, and a hundred 

and ninetj^-six dashed impetuously, as at first, from the rushes 

of Ingira with shrill loud yells, and the Waganda lines moved 

backward to the center of the channel, where they bravely and 

coolly maintained their position. As the center of the Uganda 

line parted in front of the causeway, and disclosed the hotly 

advancing enemy. Tori aimed the howitzers and fired at a group 

of about twenty canoes, completely shattering more than half of 

them, and re-loading one quickly, he discharged several bolts of 

iron three inches long among them with terrible effect. Before 

this cool bearing of the Waganda, the Wavuma retired to their 
35 



STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT. 549 

island again, and we saw numbers of canoes discharging their 
dead and wounded; and the Waganda were summoned to the 
Nakaranga shore to receive the congratulations of the empe- 
ror and the applause of the vast multitude. Mtesa went down 
to the water's edge to express his satisfaction at their be- 
havior. 

" ' Go at them again,' said he, 'and show them what fighting 
is.' 

'* And the line of battle was again formed, and again the 
Wavunia darted from the cover of the reeds and water-cane with 
the swiftness of hungry sharks, beating the water into foam 
with their paddles, and rending the air with their fearful yells. 
It was one of the most exciting and animating scenes I 
ever beheld ; but, owing to the terror of the stake with which 
their dread monarch had threatened them, the Waganda dis- 
tinguished themselves for coolness and method, and the Wavu- 
ma, as on a former occasion, for intrepidity and desperate 
courage. 

" A third time the Waganda were urged to the battle, and a 
third time the unconquerable and desperate enemy dashed up- 
on them, to be smitten and wounded sore in a battle where 
they had not the least chance of returning blow for blow 
without danger of being swept by the cannon and muskets on 
the causeway. 

A third battle was fought a few days after between one hun- 
dred and seventy-eight Wavuma canoes and one hundred and 
twenty-two Waganda; but had the Waganda possessed the 
sj)irit and dash of their enemies, they might have decided the 
war on this day; for the Wavuma were greatly dispirited. A 
fourth battle was fought the next day by two hundred and 
fourteen Waganda canoes and two hundred and three Wavuma 
canoes, after the usual delay and premonitory provocation. The 
Wavuma obtained the victory most signally. * * * The 
Waganda were disorganized and dispirited after the signal 
defeat they had experienced. * * * On inquiring into the 
cause of the disaster, I learned that Mtesa's gunpowder was 
almost exhausted, and that he had scarcely a round left for 
each musket." 

Although Stanley was bound to Mtesa by past evidences of 
friendship, as well as by the hope of assistance in the future, 
he could not but feel strong admiration for the heroic Wavu- 
ma; and bent his energies "upon a solution of the problem 
how to injure none, but satisfy all." While he was consider- 
ing this puzzling question, he was summoned to the council- 



550 STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT 

chamber, where Mtesa was making ready to torture to death a 
Wavuma who had fallen into his hands. The emperor had but 
a few days before announced himself a Christian; and Stan- 
ley now warmly protested against such an un-Christian act. 
His arguments were disregarded for a long time ; but finally, 
Mtesa listened to him. Stanley then promised to build a struc- 
ture which should terrify the Wavuma, if Mtesa would but 
give him plenty of help. 

The Waganda are timid about fighting on water, being un- 
used to the unstable element ; it was for this reason that Stan- 
ley had advised the building of a causeway from the mainland 
te the island, that they might thus be on a more equal footing 
with the seamen Wavuma; but the Waganda chiefs did not 
take kindly to the idea, and the causeway was not finished. 
Mtesa now gave orders that Stanley's directions should be 
minutely obeyed. 

He selected three of the strongest built canoes, each seventy 
feet long and six and one-half feet wide ; and had them drawn 
up four feet from each other. Tall trees were laid across 
them, and lashed firmly to the thwarts. Seven-foot poles were 
lashed to the thwarts of the outer canoes, and long poles, one 
inch in diameter, twisted in among these. When completed, 
it resembled an oblong stockade, which the spears of the 
enemy could not penetrate ; and formed a floating fort, pro- 
pelled by invisible rowers, and manned by more than two hun- 
dred men. This immense structure slowly advanced toward 
the island, while a voice from within asked the Wavuma if 
they were ready to submit to Mtesa now ; if they went through 
the form of submission, he offered pardon to all; if they re- 
fused, this terrible thing would blow them into atoms. The 
Wavuma, terrified by the strange thing, which doubtless con- 
tained some powerful spirits, yielded to the demand; and the 
mysterious structure solemnly began its way back to the cove 
whence it had started. Thus the Wavuma, like the Trojans, 
were conquered by strategy when their determined valor defied 
open force. 

Keturning to the old capital at Ulagalla Oct. 29, Mtesa 
granted the desired guide and escort to Stanley for his visit to 
the Albert Nyanza. They coasted along the shores of the 
Victoria Nyanza ^ far as Dumo, where the greater part of 
Stanley's force had been left; and then began their overland 
march; carrying the Lady Alice and a canoe which had been 
named the "Livingstone." Their route lay directly through 
Unyoro, the king of which country, Kabba Rega, was then en- 



FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. 551 

gaged in war with the white governor at Gondokoro; but the 
escort provided by Mtesa consisted of more than two thousand 
men, and Stanley's own force numbered one hundred and 
eighty; so that they were not attacked by the natives. 

They reached the shores of the lake in January ; but there 
was a precipice with a sheer descent of fifty feet, down which 
the boats must be lowered; and while they were debating 
about the best way to accomplish this, hostile demonstrations 
by the natives frightened the Waganda, who were already dis- 
contented; and the leader of that force determined to return. 
Stanley was advised by his captains that half of his own force 
would accompany the Waganda in spite of all they could do ; 
and he was therefore compelled to return with them. With 
the punishment that Mtesa inflicted upon his disobedient sub- 
jects, we have nothing to do. He expressed the greatest re- 
gret to Stanley that they had not fulfilled their orders ; and 
offered a force of a hundred thousand men for the accomplish- 
ment of the traveler's purpose, if that number should be 
necessary. The offer was, however, declined; and Stanley 
left Uganda. 

Stanley next visited Rumanika, the gentle king who was 
subordinate to the fiery Mtesa. The dusky giant (for Ruman- 
ika was six feet six in his bare feet) received Stanley with 
much kindness, and praised his country, Karagwe. He claim- 
ed not only the great river, Kagera, but a more wonderful 
thing still, the Hot Springs of Mtagata. Under the escort of 
this chief, Stanley began the circumnavigation of Lake Wind- 
ermere, March 8; and made several similar excursions from 
his camp on the Kagera. . 

March 11, Rumanika furnished him with an escort of thirty 
men and a guide for his visit to Mtagata Hot Springs, which 
they reached after two days' journey. These remarkable 
springs are six in number, the temperature varying from one 
hundred and seven degrees Fahrenheit to one hundred and 
twenty-nine and one-half degrees. A sample of the water 
taken to London and there analyzed, showed it to be faintly 
alkaline, holding sodium carbonate in solution. The natives 
praised the waters of the springs so highly that Stanley resolv- 
ed to test them in his own person; but although he remained 
three days there and drank an enormous quantity of the water, 
he experienced no good. He intimates that the benefit re- 
ceived in cutaneous diseases results more from the unusual 
cleanliness than from any virtue in the water itself. 

A great deal of information was received from Rumanika 



STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT. 553 

concerning the geography of the surrounding country; and 
his sub-chiefs added their quota. Rumanika's knowledge 
(not drawn from personal experience) included a race of peo- 
ple but two feet high, another with tails, and still another 
with ears so long that they touched the ground when the man 
stood upright, and when he lay down, formed a sleeping mat 
and a covering from the cold. 

Having traced the extreme southern sources of the Nile, 
from the marshy plains and cultivated uplands where they are 
born, down to the mighty reservoir called the Victoria Nyanza, 
Stanley, on April 7, resumed his ** journey in a southerly 
direction, and traveled five miles along a ravine, at the bottom 
of which murmured the infant stream Luhugati. On coming 
to its source we ascended a steep slope until we stood on the 
summit of a grassy ridge at the height of five thousand six 
hundred feet by aneroid. Not until we had descended a mile 
to the valley of Uyagoma did I recognize the importance of 
this ridge as the water-parting between one of the feeders of 
the Lake Victoria and the source of the Malagarazi, the prin- 
cipal affluent of Lake Tanganyika." 

Descending into the basin of the Tanganyika, the expedition 
arrived at Serombo April 22, and here received a visit from 
the mighty Mirambo whose w^ar with the Arabs was now at an 
end. He insisted on making blood-brotherhood with Stanley, 
and tried to excel the white man in the generosity of his 
gifts. 

We need not follow them through the uneventful journey 
to the shore of the Tanganyika. They arrived at Ujiji May 27, 
1876. Providing for the well-being of his followers during 
his absence, Stanley set out, June 11, with eleven men and two 
boy gun-bearers, to circumnavigate the lake, with the view of 
finding its outlet. The Lady Alice was accompanied by a 
canoe lent by an Arab, called the Meofu. The Arabs of Ujiji 
were quite convinced that these vessels would never be able 
to live in the Tanganyika, and predicted the most doleful 
things. 

They arrived at the banks of the Lukuga July 16. It will be 
remembered that Cameron positively asserted that this river 
flows out of Lake Tanganyika. Stanley was unable to find any 
current ; and decided that what had been a river, the affluent of 
Tanganyika, was now but a creek or inlet, above which were 
marshes and ooze. He explains this by supposing that the sur- 
face of Tanganyika has been steadily rising, until the lake is 
now above the mouth of the original river ; and adduces proof 



554 STANLEY CEOSSES THE DARK CONTIKENT 

that the lake had actually risen considerably since the time 
that he, in company with Livingstone, explored its shores. 
His recollections of particular points were confirmed by Arabs 
resident at Ujiji. 

The circumnavigation of the lake was completed July 31, 
after an absence of fifty-one days from Ujiji. Stanley found 
the small-pox raging in this place, and it had carried off five 
of his men, who had evaded vaccination at Eosako. The 
fever attacked him, as it had also attacked his lieuteijiant, 
Frank Pocock, during his absence; and to add to their 
troubles, thirty-eight men deserted on the eve of their depart- 
ure from Ujiji. Five more disappeared during the first stages 
of their journey, one of whom was Kalulu. Stanley determined 
to recover these men, for he had shortly before treated them 
with the greatest generosity, distributing three hundred and 
fifty pounds' worth of cloth among them gratuitously. Pocock 
and Kacheche were sent after the deserters, and captured 
seven, one of whom was Kalulu; these receiving merited pun- 
ishment, an end was put to misconduct and faithlessness for 
the time. 

The shores of the Luama were reached October 11 : and they 
followed this stream for a distance of two hundred and twenty 
miles, to its confluence with the greater river. The Luama 
here was about four hundred yards wide; the Lualaba, one 
thousand four hundred. " A broad river, of a pale grey color, 
winding slowly from south and by east. * * * A secret 
rapture filled my soul as I gazed upon the majestic stream. 
The great mystery that for all these centuries Nature had kept 
hidden away from the world of science, was waiting to be 
solved. * * * Before me lay the superb river; my task was 
to follow it to the ocean." 

At the village of Mkwanga, eight miles from the confluence 
of these rivers, they met with Tip.pu Tib, otherwise Hamedbin 
Mohammed, a noted Arab trader with whom Cameron had had 
dealings ; and from whom they learned how the Englishman 
had failed to obtain the canoes necessary for the descent of 
the Lualaba. The Arab endeavored to dissuade him from the 
attempt; and painted the difficulties of the journey in strong 
colors. Stanley himself saw what they were; Livingstone the 
Beloved had failed to overcome them by persuasion ; Cameron 
had failed to overcome them with his forty-five Snider rifles — 
an argument more generally understood by the savages. Tippu- 
Tib would not consent to be his escort unless Stanley would 
return to Nyangwe with him. What should be done? Stanley 



- FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. 000 

took his trusty lieutenant into council, and carefully stated all 
the advantages and difficulties of the various alternatives that 
presented themselves. Both were at heart anxious to explore 
the Lualaba to its mouth, but neither would say so. Under 
these circumstances, Frank made a proposition. 

*' ' I say, sir, let us toss up; best two out of three to decide 
it.' 

" ' Toss away; here is a rupee.' 

*' ' Heads for the north and the Lualaba; tails for the south 
and Katanga.' 

*' Frank stood up, his face beaming. He tossed the rupee 
high up. The coin dropped. 

" 'What is it?' I asked. 

'* ' Tails, sir,' said Frank, with a face expressive of strong 
disapproval. 

"* Toss again.' 

" He tossed again, and tails was again announced — and six 
times running tails won. We then tried straws — the short 
straws for the south the long straws for the Eiver Lualaba — 
and again we were disappointed, for Frank persisted in draw- 
ing out the short straws, and in leaving the long straws in 
my hands. 

'* 'It is of no use, Frank. We'll face our destiny despite the 
rupee and the straws. With your help, my dear fellow, I 
will follow the river.' " 

A contract was concluded with Tippu Tib, by which the 
trader agreed to accompany them sixty marches, of four hours 
each, when, if they found the country hostile, they should re- 
turn with him to Kyangwe; if they met Portuguese or Arab 
traders, a portion of the expedition was to continue the jour- 
ney with them, and the remainder to return with Tippu Tib. 
This arrangement prevented desertions, as no Arab would 
harbor a runaway from an expedition with which one of their 
own country-men was connected. 

November 5, 1876, they left Nyangwe, one hundred and 
forty-six men comprising the expedition proper, while Tippu- 
Tib mustered seven hundred. Their road lay through the 
dense, almost impenetrable forest; and their progress at first 
was necessarily slow. So slow, indeed, that the Arab trader 
became disgusted, and regardless of the loss of the money, 
which was to be forfeited if he refused to fulfill his part of 
the contract, announced that he intended to return. Argu- 
ments at length persuaded him to compromise, and the expe- 
dition again took up the line of march. 



STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONT'INEXT. 007 

In a village of Uvinza, Stanley found the principal street dec- 
orated with skulls which looked to him like those of the human 
species. The chief and his people, however, informed him 
that they were soko skulls; that the sokos stole their bananas, 
and were because of that hunted by his people, the flesh being 
used for meat. Stanley purchased two of the skulls, some of 
which bore the marks of the hatchet which had caused death ; 
and on his return to England submitted them to Professor 
Huxley. The eminent scientist unhesitatingly pronounced 
them human, one being a man's, the other a woman's; thus 
showing that the Wavinza are cannibals. 

November 19, they reached a point on the Lualaba forty-one 
miles north of Nyangwe, in latitude three degrees thirty-five 
seconds south, and twenty-five degrees, forty-nine seconds 
east longitude. From this point, Stanley speaks of the river 
as the Livingstone, claiming that as the name is changed each 
time it receives an afiluent, it is useless to attempt to follow 
the native designations. Here it was, while busily planning 
the future journey, that Stanley suddenly saw his way clear 
before him. They had encamped on the banks of the river, 
and he had been considering the means of crossing it. 

*' I sprang up ; told the drummer to call to muster. The 
people responded wearily to the call. Frank and the chiefs 
appeared. The Arabs and their escort came also, until a dense 
mass of expectant faces surrounded me. I turned to them 
and said : 

*' 'Arabs! Sons of Unyamwezi ! Children of Zanzibar ! Listen 
to words. We have seen the Mitamba of Uregga. We have 
tasted its bitterness, and groaned in spirit. We seek a road. 
We seek something by which we may travel. I seek a path that 
shall take me to the sea. I have found it.' 

' * ' Ah ! A-ah-h ! ' and murmurs and inquiring looks at one 
another. 

"'Yes! El hamd ul lUah I I have found it. Regard this 
mighty river. From the beginning it has flowed on thus, as 
YOU see it flow to-day. It has flowed on in silence and dark- 
ness. Whither? To the Salt Sea, as all rivers go. By that 
Salt Sea, on which the great ships come and go, live my friends, 
and your friends. Do they not?' 

"Cries of 'Yes! yes!' 

" ' Yet, my people, although this river is so great, so wide and 
deep, no man has ever penetrated the distance lying between 
this spot on which we stand and our white friends who live by 
the Salt Sea. Why? Because it was left for us to do ! ' 



558 STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTHSTEN'T 

'* ' Ah, no 1 no ! no ! ' and despairing shakes of the head. 

**'Yes,' I continued, raising my voice; 'I tell you, my 
friends, it has been left from the beginning of time until to- 
day for us to do. .It is our work, and no other. It is the 
voice of Fate ! The ONE GOD has written that this year the 
river shall be known throughout its length ! We will have no 
more Mitambas ; we will have no more panting and groaning 
by the wayside; we will have no more hideous darkness; we 
will take to the river, and keep to the river. To-day I shall 
launch my boat on that stream, and it shall never leave it until 
I finish my work. I swear it ! ' 

*' ' Now% you Wangwana! You who have followed me through 
Turn, and sailed around the great lakes with me; you have 
followed me like children following their father through Un- 
yoro and down to Ujiji, and as far as this wild, wild land, will 
you leave me here? Shall I and my white brother go alone? 
Will you go back and tell my friends that you left me in this 
wild spot, and cast me adrift to die? Or will you, to whom I 
have been so kind, whom I love as I would love my children, 
will you bind me, and take me back by force? Speak, Arabs ! 
Where are my young men, w^ith hearts of lions? Speak, 
Wangwana, and show me those who dare follow me ! ' 

*' Uledi, the coxswain, leaped upw^ard, and then sprang to- 
wards me, and kneeling grasped my knees and said: 

*' ' Look on me, my master! I am one! I will follow you to 
death!' 

** 'And I,' Kacheche cried. 

*' ' And I, and I, and I,' shouted the boat's crew, 

** ' It is well. I knew I had friends. You then who have 
cast your lot with me stand on one side, and let me count 
you.' 

*' There were thirty-eight. Ninety-five stood still and said' 
nothing. 

' " ' I have enough. Even with you, my friends, I shall reach 
the sea. But there is plenty of time. We have not yet made 
our canoes. We have not yet parted with the Arabs. We 
have yet a long distance to travel with Tippu Tib. We may 
meet with good people, from whom we may buy canoes. And 
by the time w^e part I am sure that the ninety-five men now 
fearing to go with us will not leave their brothers, and their 
master and his white brother, to go down the river without 
them. Meantime, I give you many thanks, and shall not for- 
get your names.' " 

While Stanley w^as speaking to the Arabs, endeavoring to 



FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. 559 

persuade them that cataracts and cannibals were dangers which 
he should overcome, a canoe had approached from the op- 
posite bank, with two men in it. They demanded a thousand 
cowries for each man whom their tribe should set across the 
river; and being offered ten, withdrew, uttering a peculiar 
cry, which Stanley's interpreter. declared was a war-cry. Stan- 
ley crossed the river in the Lady Alice, and entered into nego- 
tiations with the horde of savages that he found there. It was 
agreed, upon the demand of the natives, that ten men should 
go from each side to a certain island the next morning and 
make blood-brotherhood. Fortunately the white man was on 
his guard ; and secretly posted a reserve of twenty men in the 
bushes before sending off Frank and the stipulated escort. 
The savages landed later, and although they behaved well at 
first, by the time that six canoes had discharged their human 
cargo they became so violent that had not Frank and his men 
risen with their guns ready they w^ould bave been speared 
where they sat. Seeing the state of affairs, the reserve emerged 
from the bushes. Stanley, who was four minutes' row up the 
stream in the Lady Alice, bade his men bend to their oars; 
and the treacherCrus savages, seeing that their wiles had been 
foreseen, took to their canoes and paddled away. 

Stanley then landed thirty men with axes on the other side of 
the river ; and floating down to a point opposite the Wenya vil- 
lage, tossed a small bag of beads on shore, and professed him- 
self willing to pay for the ferriage, explaining that it w^as use- 
less for them to resist longer, as thirty of his men were al- 
ready landed in their country, A good understanding seemed 
to be thus established ; and the expedition was ferried over in 
safety. 

But the natives seized the first opportunity to decamp ; and 
when the travelers went to their village the next morning, to 
cement the new friendship by means of gifts, not a soul was to 
be found. It was the same in the neighboring villages ; the alarm 
had spread from place to place during the night. 

The force was now divided, thirty-six men, including Stan- 
ley, forming the river party, while the remainder marched by 
land. The river party arrived November 23, at the mouth of 
the Euiki, and after waiting until the next morning, rowed up 
stream to look for the dthers. Not finding any trace of them, 
the boat returned to the camp, where about two-thirds of this 
small party had been left as a garrison. It had been attacked 
during the leader's absence ; but although there were several 
sheaves of iron-headed and wooden spears, besides reed arrows, 



STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT. 561 

in the camp, no one of the travelers had been wounded. The 
land party did not arrive until the next day ; and told of hav- 
ing been attacked, three of their number being killed. They 
had lost the road and were thus delayed. 

The rapids of Ukassa were passed the next day ; not with- 
out danger from the natives as well as from the waters ; and 
from this point forward we find the two perils constantly be- 
setting the adventurers. Nor was this all ; such was the physi- 
cal condition of the men, that *' there was enough work in the 
stricken expedition for a dozen physicians. Every day we 
tossed two or three bodies into the deep waters of the Living- 
stone — poor creatures, what a life! wandering, ever wander- 
ing, in search of graves." 

Let us follow the history of a few days more minutely than 
ever; to see what were the difficulties besetting them. It is 
December, and they have passed the island of Mpika about 
the middle of the month. 

** While rowing down, close to the left bank, we were sur- 
prised by a cry from one of the guards of the hospital canoes, 
and turning round saw an arrow fixed in his chest. The next 
instant, looking towards the bank, we saw many men in the 
jungle, and several arrows flew past my head in extremely un- 
pleasant proximity. 

** We sheered off, pulling hard down stream. * * * "VY'e 
drew in shore, and sending out ten scouts to lie in wait in the 
jungle, I mustered all the healthy men, about thirty in num- 
ber, and proceeded to construct a fence of brushwood. Pres- 
ently a shriek of agony from another of my men rang out 
through the jungle, followed immediately by the sharp crack 
of the scouts' Sniders, which again was responded to by an in- 
fernal din of war-horns and yells, while arrows flew past us 
from all directions. Twenty more men were at once sent into 
the jungle to assist the scouts, while, with might and main, we 
labored to surround our intended camp with tall and dense 
hedges of brushwood, with sheltered nooks for riflemen. After 
an hour's labor, the camp was deemed sufficiently tenable, and 
the recall was sounded. The scouts retreated on the run, 
shouting as they approached : 

*** Prepare! prepare! they are coming ! ' 

"About fifty yards of ground outside of our camp had been 
cleared, which, upon the retreat of the scouts who had been 
keepingthem in check, was soon filled by hundreds of savages, 
who pressed upon us from all sides but the river, in the full 
expectation that we were flying in fear. But they^were mis- 



562 STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT 

taken, for we were at bay, and desperate in our resolve not to 
die without fighting. Accordingly, at such close quarters the 
contest became terrific. Again and again the savages hurled 
themselves upon our stockade, launching spear after spear 
with deadly force into the camp, to be each time repulsed. 
Sometimes the muzzles of the guns almost touched their 
breasts. The shrieks, cries, shouts of encouragement, the rat- 
tling volley of musketry, the booming war-horns, the yells and 
defiance of the combatants, the groans and screams of the 
women and children in the hospital camp, made together such 
a medley of hideous noises as can never be effaced from my 
memory. For two hours this desperate conflict lasted. More 
than once, some of the Wangwana were about to abandon the 
struggle and run to the canoes, but Uledi the coxswain and 
Frank threatened them with clubbed muskets, and with the 
muzzles of their rifles drove them back to the stockades. At 
dusk the enemy retreated from the vicinity of the clearing ; 
but the hideous alarms produced from their ivory horns, and 
increased by the echoes of the dense forest, continued ; and 
now and again a vengeful poison-laden arrow flew by with an 
ominous whiz to quiver in the earth at our feet, or fall harm- 
lessly into the river behind us." 

A strict watch was kept during the night ; but the men in 
the camp were so quiet that those in the jungle thought they 
slept, and attacked them. In the morning, they rowed about 
five hundred yards down the river, and occupied a deserted 
village on the right bank. 

"We were not long left unmolested. The savages recovered 
their wits, and strove desperately to dislodge us, but at each end 
of the village, which was about three hundred yards long, our 
muskets blazed incessantly. I also caused three or four sharp- 
shooters to ascend tall trees along the river banks, which per- 
mitted them, although unseen, to overlook the tall grasses 
and rear of the village, and to defend us from fire. * *, * 
The combat lasted till noon, when, mustering twenty-five men, 
we made a sally, and succeeded in clearing the skirts of the 
village for the day. * * * During the night there was a 
slight alarm, and now and then the tapping on the roofs and 
the pattering among the leaves informed us that our enemies 
were still about, though we did not reply to them. The next 
morning an assault was attempted; but the enemy retreated 
almost immediately into the jungle. 

■ *' About noon, a large flotilla of canoes was observed ascend- 
ing the river close to the left bank, manned by such a dense 



FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. 563 

mass of men that any number between five hundred and eight 
hundred would be within the mark. We watched them very 
carefully until they had ascended the river about half a mile 
above us, when, taking advantage of the current, they bore 
down towards us, blowing their war-horns, and drumming vig- 
orously. At the same moment, as though this were a signal 
in concert with those on land, war-horns responded from the 
forest, and I had scarcely time to order every man to look out 
when the battle-tempest of arrows broke upon us from the 
woods. But the twenty men in the nests at the corners of the 
villages proved sufficient to resist the attack from the forest 
side, Frank Pocock being in charge of one, and Sheikh Abdal- 
lah of the other, while I, with twenty men lining the bushes 
along the water line, defended the river side. 

''This was a period when every man felt that he must either 
fight or resign himself to the only other alternative, that of be- 
ing heaved a headless corpse into the river. * * * There- 
fore, though the notes of the war-horns were dreadful, our 
foes pertinacious and numerous, and evidently accustomed 
to victory, I failed to observe one man among my people then 
fighting who did not seem desirous to excel even Uledi the 
coxswain. 

"The battle had continued half an hour with a desperate 
energy, only qualified by our desperate state. Ammunition 
we possessed in abundance, and we made use of it with deadly 
effect, yet what might have become of us is doubtful, had not 
the advanced guard of Tippu Tib and our land division arrived 
at this critical juncture, causing dismay to the savages in the 
forest, who announced the reinforcement by horns to the sav- 
ages in the canoes, many of whom were making strenuous 
efforts to effect a landing. The river savages, upon hearing 
these signals, withdrew, but as they were paddling away they 
proclaimed their intention of preventing all escape, either up 
river or down river, and expressed their contempt for us by 
throwing water towards us with their paddles. We saw the 
canoes mysteriously disappear behind an island, situated about 
sixteen hundred yards off and opposite to our camp." 

That night, Stanley and Pocock, with crews of picked men, 
made their way, with mufiled oars, to the island, and captured 
thirty-eight of the enemy's canoes. This enabled them to 
maketheirowntermswith the savages, who were glad enough to 
make blood-brotherhood with Safeni for the return of fifteen 
of their vessels. Stanley had lost four men killed in the con- 
test and thirteen wounded. 
36 




CUTTING OUB WAY THROUGH THE FOREST. 



STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT. 565 

Stanley now determined to dispense with his Arab escort ; 
and since a sufficient number of canoes had been procured, to 
take to the river in good earnest. Food must be procured and 
prepared for at least twenty days ; the canoes must be thor- 
oughly overhauled, and lashed in couples, to prevent their 
capsizing. The vessels were named by the Zanzibaris after 
those which visited their native place; except half a dozen, 
which were christened by the two white men. 

Christmas day was passed pleasantly and happily. Three 
days later the final farewells were spoken ; the Arabs returned 
toward the starting-point, and the expedition sailed down the 
river, toward the Unknown. 

For a week they journeyed through a country where the 
war-cry, frequently heard, was "Meat!" but fortunately they 
were not seriously molested, as their camp was always well 
guarded at night; and the fame of their prowess- had evi- 
dently preceded them. On January 4, 1877, they came within 
hearing of the first cataract of Stanley Falls. But louder yet 
sounded the piercing yells of the savage Mwana Ntaba from 
both sides of the great river. This tribe had attacked them 
the previous afternoon, but had been repulsed, a huge canoe 
of theirs being captured by the Lady Alice. Theirs was a ter- 
rible alternative; either they must face the cannibals, collect- 
ed in they knew not what numbers, or they must dare the cat- 
aracts. Possibly it was only a choice between deaths, by knives 
or by drowning; the latter was certain, if they chose the water 
route; the former left room for hope, if they chose the land 
route. They therefore decided to fight their way around the 
cataracts. 

** There was only one way to resolve the problem, and that 
was to meet the Bakumu and dare their worst, and then to drag 
the canoes through the dense forest on the left bank. Accord- 
ingly, we prepared for what we felt assured would be a stub- 
born contest. At early dawn of the 10th of January, with 
quick throbbing pulses, we stole up the river for about a mile, 
and then with desperate haste dashed across to the shore [from 
the island where they had been encamped] where we became 
immediately engaged. We floated down to the bend just 
above the cataract, and there secured our boats and canoes 
out of the influence of the stream. Leaving Frank with eight 
men and sixty axes to form a stockade, I led thirty-six men in 
a line through the bushes, and drove the united Baswa and 
Bakumu backward to their villages, the first of which were 
situated a mile from the river. Here a most determined stand 



566 STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT 

was made by them, for they had piled up heaps of brushwood, 
and cut down great trees to form defenses, leaving only a few 
men in front. We crept through the jungle on the south side 
and succeeded in forcing an entrance and driving them out. 
We had thus won peace for this day, and retreated to our 
camp. We then divided the expedition into two parties, or 
relays, one to work by night, the other by day, after which I 
took a picked body of pioneers with axes and guns and cut a 
narrow path three miles in length, blazing the trees as a guide, 
and forming rude camps at intervals of half a mile. * * * 

"We were not further disturbed during this day. In the 
evening Frank began his work wnth fifty axemen, and ten men 
as scouts, deployed in the bushes in front of the working 
party. Before dawn we were all awakened, and making a 
rush with the canoes, succeeded in safely reaching our first 
camp by 9 A. M., with all canoes and baggage. During the 
passage of the rear-guard the Bakumu made their presence 
known to us by a startling and sudden outburst of cries ; but 
the scouts immediately replied to them with their rifles, and 
maintained their jposition until they were supported by the 
other armed men, who were now led forward as on the day 
before. We chased the savages two miles inland, to other 
villages which we had not hitherto seen; and these also we 
compelled them to abandon." 

Thus the work of passing the cataracts went on, night and 
day, and after seventy-eight hours' immense exertions, the 
canoes were launched once more. But their difliculties were 
not yet at an end. Three cataracts had been passed in safety; 
how many remained below? But perhaps an extract from 
Stanley's journal will give a more vivid picture of the occur- 
rences the day after the third cataract was safely passed than 
any other words could do : 

" January 14. — As soon as we reached the river we began to 
float the canoes down to a two-mile stretch of rapids to a camp 
opposite the south end of Ntunduru Island. Six canoes were 
taken down safely by the gallant boat's crew. The seventh canoe 
was manned by Muscati, Uledi Muscati, and Zaidi, a chief. 
Muscati, the steersman, lost his presence of mind, and soon 
upset his canoe in a piece of bad water. Muscati and his 
friend Uledi swam down the furious stream to Ntunduru Island, 
whence they were saved by the eighth canoe, manned by stout- 
hearted Manwa Sera and Uledi, the coxswain of the Lady Alice ; 
but poor Zaidi, the chief, paralyzed by the roar of the stream, 
unfortunately thought his safety was assured by clinging to his 



from: OCEAN' TO OCEAN'. 567 

canoe, which was soon swept past our new camp, in full view of 
those who had been deputed with Frank to form it, to what seem- 
ed inevitable death. But a kindly Providence, which he has 
himself gratefully acknowleged, saved him even on the brink of 
eternity. The great fall at the north end of Ntunduru Island 
happens to be disparted by a single pointed rock, and on this 
the canoe was driven, and, borne down by the weight of the 
waters, was soon split in two, one side of which got jammed 
below, the other tilted upward. To this the almost drowned 
man clung, while perched on the rocky point, with his ankles 
washed by the stream. To his left, as he faced up stream, 
there was a stretch of fifty yards of falling water; to his right 
were nearly fifty yards of leaping brown waves, while close be- 
hind him the water fell down sheer to six or eight feet, through 
a gap ten yards wide, between the rocky point on which he was 
perched and a rocky islet three hundred yards long. 

*' When called to the scene by his weeping friends from my 
labo];-s up river, I could scarcely believe my eyes, or realize the 
strange chance which placed him there; and certainly a more 
critical position than the poor fellow was in cannot be imag- 
ined. * * * The solitary man on that narrow pointed rock 
was apparently calmer than any of us ; though we could ap- 
proach within fifty yards, he could not hear a word we said; 
he could see us, and feel assured that we sympathized with him 
in his terrible position. 

"We then, after collecting our faculties, bagan to prepare 
means to save him. After sending men to collect rattans, we 
fo~rmed a cable, by which we attempted to lower a small canoe, 
but the instant it seemed to reach him the force of the cur- 
rent hurrying to the fall was so great that the cable snapped 
like packthread, and the canoe swept by him like an arrow, 
and was engulfed, shattered, split, and pounded into fragments. 
Then we .endeavored to toss toward him poles tied with creep- 
ers, but the vagaries of the current and its convulsive heaving 
made it impossible to reach him with them, while the man dared 
not move a hand, but sat silent, watching our futile efforts, while 
the conviction gradually settled on our minds that his doom, 
though protracted, was certain. 

" Then, after anxious deliberation with myself, I called for 
another canoe, and lashed to the bow of it a cable consisting 
of three one-inch rattans twisted together and strengthened by 
all the tent ropes. A similar cable was lashed to the side, and 
a third was fastened to the stern, each of these cables being 
ninety yards in length. A shorter cable, thirty yards in length, 



gfA^^LEV crosses the dark contixent. 569 

was lashed to the stern of the canoe, which was to be guided 
within reach of him by a man in the canoe. 

" Two volunteers were called for. No one would step for- 
ward. I offered rewards. Still no one would respond. But 
when I began to speak to them, asking them how they would 
like to be in such a position without a single friend offering to 
assist in saving them, Ulfedi the coxswain came forward and 
said: 

" * Enough, master, I will go. Mambu Kica Mungu' — My 
fate is in the hands of God. 

And immediately he began preparing himself by binding his 
loin-cloth firmly about his waist. Then Marzouk, a boat-boy, 
said : 

*' * Since Uledi goes, I will go too.' 

'* Other boat-boys, young Shumari and Aaywa, offered their 
services, but I checked them, and said: 

*' * You surely are not tired of me, are you, that you all wish 
to die? If all my brave boat-boys are lost, what shall we do?' *' 

Uledi and his friend Marzouk stepped into the canoe with 
the air of gladiators, and we applauded them heartily, but en- 
joined on them to be careful. Then I turned to the crowd on 
the shore who were manning the cables, and bade them beware 
of the least carelessness, as the lives of the three young men 
depended on their attention to the orders that would be given. 

*' The two young volunteers were requested to paddle across 
the river, so that the stern might be guided by those on 
shore. The bow and side cables were slackened until the 
canoe was within twenty yards of the roaring falls, and Uledi 
endeavored to guide the cable to Zaidi, but the convulsive 
heaving of the river swept the canoe constantly to one side, 
where it hovered over the steep slope and brown waves of the 
left branch, from the swirl of which we were compelled to 
draw it. Five times the attempt was made, but at last, the sixth 
time, encouraged by the safety of the cables, we lowered the 
canoe until it was within ten yards of Zaidi, and Uledi lifted 
the short cable and threw it over to him and struck his arm. 
He had just time to grasp it before he was carried over into the 
chasm below. For thirty seconds we saw nothing of him, and 
thought him lost, when his head rose above the edge of the 
falling waters. Instantly the word was given to haul away, but 
at the first pull the bow and side cables parted, and the canoe 
began to glide down the left branch with my two boat-boys on 
board! The stern cable next parted, and, horrified at the re- 
sult, we stood muttering: ^ La il Allah, il Allah,' watch- 



570 STANLEY CEOSSES THE DARK CONTINENT* 

ing the canoe severed from us drifting to certain destruc- 
tion, when we suddenly observed it halted. Zaidi, in the 
channel clinging to his cable was acting as a kedge-anchor, 
which swept the canoe against the rocky islet. Uledi and Mar- 
zouk sprang out of the canoe, and leaning over assisted Zaidi 
out of the falls, and the three, working with desperate energy, 
succeeded in securing the canoe on the islet. 

*' But though we hurrahed and were exceedingly rejoiced, 
their position was still but a short reprieve from death. There 
were fifty yards of wild waves, and a resistless rush of water, 
between them and safety, and to the right of them was a fall three 
hundred yards in width, and below was a mile of falls and 
rapids, and great whirlpools, and waves rising like little hills in 
in the middle of the terrible stream, and below these were the 
fell cannibals of Wane-Mukwa and Asama. 

*' How to reach the island was a question which now per- 
plexed me. We tied a stone to about a hundred yards of whip- 
cord, and after the twentieth attempt they managed to catch 
it. To the end of the whipcord they tied the tent rope which 
had parted before, and drawing it to our side we tied the stout 
rattan creeper, which they drew across taut and fastened to 
a rock, by which we thought we had begun to bridge the 
stream. But night drawing nigh, w^e said to them that we 
would defer further experiment till morning. 

" Meantime the ninth canoe, whose steersman was a super- 
numerary of the boat, had likewise got upset, and he out of 
six men was drowned, to our regret, but the canoe w^as saved. 
All other vessels were brought down safely, but so long as my 
poor faithful Uledi and his friends are on the islet, and still 
in the arms of death, the night finds us gloomy, sorrowing, 
and anxious. 

" January 15. — My first duty this morning was to send greet- 
ings to the three brave lads on the islet, and to assure them 
that they should be saved before they were many hours older. 
Thirty men with guns were sent to protect thirty other men 
searching for rattans in the forest, and by nine o'clock we 
we possessed sixty strong canes, besides other long climbers, 
and as fast as we were able to twist them together they were 
drawn across by Uledi and his friends. Besides, we sent light 
cables to be lashed round the waist of each man, after which 
we felt trebly assured that all accidents were guarded against. 
Then hailing them I motioned to Uledi to begin, while ten men 
seized the cable, one end of which he had fastened around his 
waist. Uledi was seen to lift up his hands to heaven, and 



FROM OCEAN to OCEAN*. 57l 

waving his hands to us as he leaped into the wild flood, seiz- 
ing the bridge cable as he fell into the depths. Soon he rose, 
hauling himself hand over hand, the waves brushing his face, 
and sometimes rising over his head, until it seemed as if he 
scarcely would be able to breathe ; but by jerking his body oc- 
casionally upward with a desperate effort, he so managed to 
survive the waves and to approach us, where a dozen willing 
hands were stretched out to snatch the half-smothered man. 
Zaidi next followed, but after the tremendous proofs he had 
given of his courage and tenacious hold we did not much fear 
for his safety, and he also landed, to be warmly congratulated 
for his double escape from death. Marzouk, the youngest was 
the last, and we held our breath while the gallant boy was 
struggling out of the fierce grasp of death. While yet midway 
the pressure of water was so great that he lost his hold of two 
cables, at which the men screamed in terror lest he should re- 
lax his hold altogether from despair; but I shouted harshly to 
him: 

" ' Pull away, you fool. Be a man.' 

"At which with three hauls he approached within reach of 
our willing hands, to be embraced and applauded by all. The 
cheers we gave were so loud and hearty that the cannibal 
Wane-Mukwa must have known, despite the roar of the wa- 
ters, that we had passed through a great and thrilling scene." 

We need not follow them through their almost daily encoun- 
ters with the hostile natives, many of whom were cannibals; 
some of them were driven off, others were glad to make friends 
with the white men and their foUow^ers. They arrived at the 
mouth of the Aruwimi, February 1. At this point in the river, 
they had seen many canoes. Stanley continues : 

** We heard shouts of defiance or threats, we knew not 
which — ^we had become indifferent to the incessant noise and 
continued fury. * * * ^s soon as we have fairly entered 
the waters [of the Aruwimi] we see a great concourse of canoes 
hovering about some islets which stud the middle of the stream. 
The canoe-men, standing up, give a loud shout as they discern 
us, and blow their horns louder than ever. We pull briskly 
on to gain the right bank, and come in view of the right 
branch of the affluent, when, looking up stream, we see a sight 
that sends the blood tingling through every nerve and fiber of 
the body, arouses not only our lively interest, but also our 
most lively apprehensions — a flotilla of gigantic canoes bear- 
ing down upon us, which both in size and numbers eclipse 
anything encountered hitherto! Instead of aiming for the 



572 STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTIlSrEKT 

right bank, we form in line, and keep straight down the river, 
the boat taking position behind. Yet after a moment's reflec- 
tion, as I note the numbers of the savages, and the daring 
manner of the pursuit, and the apparent desire of our canoes 
to abandon the steady compact line, I give the order to drop 
anchor. Four of our canoes affect not to listen, until I chase 
them, and threaten them with my guns. This compelled them 
to return to the line, which is formed of eleven double canoes, 
anchored ten yards apart. The boat moves up to the front, 
and takes position fifty yards above them. The shields are 
next lifted by the non-combatants; men, women, and children 
in the bows, and along the outer lines, as well as astern, and 
from behind these the muskets and rifles are aimed. 

" We have sufficient time to take a view of the mighty force 
bearing down on us, and to count the number of the war-ves- 
sels which have been collected from the Livingstone and its 
great affluent. There are fifty-four of them ! A monster canoe 
leads the way, with two rows of upstanding paddles, forty 
men on a side, their bodies bending and swaying in unison as 
with a swelling barbarous chorus they driv^e her down toward 
us. In the bow, standing on what appears to be a platform, 
are ten prime young warriors, their heads gay with feathers of 
the parrot crimson and gray; at the stern, eight men with 
long paddles whose tops are decorated with ivory balls, guide 
the monster vessel; and dancing up and down from stem to 
stern are eight men who appear to be chiefs. All the paddles 
are headed with ivory balls, every head bears a feather crown, 
every arm shows gleaming white armlets. From the bow of 
the canoe streams a thick fringe of the long white fiber of 
the Hyphene palm. The crashing sound of large drums, a 
hundred blasts from ivory horns, and a thrilling chant from 
two thousand human throats, do not tend to soothe our nerves 
or to increase our confidence. However, it is neck or nothing. 
We have no time to pray, or to take sentimental looks at the 
savage world, or even to breathe a sad farewell to it. So many 
other things have to be done speedily and well. 

" As the foremost canoe comes rushing down, and the con- 
sorts on either side beating the water into foam, and raising 
their jets of water with their sharp prows, I turn to take a last 
look at our people, aud say to them : 

" ' Boys, be firm as iron ; wait until you see the first spear, 
and then take aim. Don't fire all at once, keep aiming until 
you are sure of your man. Don't think of running away, for 
only your guns can save you.' 



FROM OCEAN' TO OCEAN". 573 

" Frank is with the Ocean on the right flank, and has a 
choice crew, and a good bulwark of black wooden shields. 
Manwa Sera has the London Town — which he has taken 
charge of instead of the Glasgow — on the left flank, the sides 
of the canoe bristling with guns, in the hands of tolerably 
steady men. 

*' The monster canoe aims straight for my boat, as though 
it would run us down ; but when within fifty yards swerves 
aside, and when nearly opposite, the warriors above the man- 
ned prow let fly their spears, and on either side there is a noise 
of rushing bodies. But every sound is sbon lost in the ripping 
and crackling of musketry. For five minutes we are so absorbed in. 
firing that we can take note of nothing else; but at the end of 
that time we are made aware that the enemy is re-forming 
about two hundred yards above us. 

"Our blood is now up. It is a murderous world, and we 
feel for the first time that we hate the. filthy, vulturous ghouls 
that inhabit it. We therefore lift our anchors, and pursue 
them up stream along the right bank, until rounding a point 
we see their villages. We make straight for the banks, and 
continue the fight in the village streets with those who have 
landed, hunt them out into the woods, and there only sound 
the retreat, having returned the daring cannibals the compli- 
ment of a visit." 

Still floating down the river, they came to the country of 
the Bangala February 14. Stanley had some hopes of concil- 
iating this tribe by means of gifts, as they were somewhat ac- 
customed to the visits of the traders ; for the travelers were now 
indeed approaching the portion of the river which was known 
to the merchants. Let us see how these efforts to make 
friends succeeded : 

*' We had left Observation Island about half a mile behind 
us when the prows of many canoes were seen to emerge out of 
the creek. I stood up and edged toward them, holding a long 
piece of red cloth in one hand and a coil of brass wire in an- 
other. We rested on our oars, and the men quietly placed 
their paddles in the canoe, and sat up, watchful, and ready 
for contingencies. As we floated down, numbers of canoes 
advanced. 

"I hailed the natives, who were the most brilliantly decorat- 
ed of any that I had seen. * * * The natives returned no 
answer to my hail; still I persisted. I observed three or four 
canoes approaching Frank's vessel with a most suspicious air 
about them, and several of their canoes menacing him, at 



STAN1.EY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT. DiO 

which Frank stood up and menaced them with his weapon. I 
thought the act premature, and ordered him to sit down and 
look away from them. I again raised the crimson cloth and 
wire, and by pantomime offered to give it to those in front, 
whom I was previously addressing; but almost immediately 
those natives who had threatened Frank fired into my boat, 
wounding three of my young crew, and two more natives fired 
into Frank's canoe, wounding two. The missiles fired into us 
were jagged pieces of iron and copper precisely similar to those 
which the Ashantees employed. After this murderous out- 
rage there was no effort made to secure peace. The shields 
were lifted, and proved capital defenses against the hail of 
slugs. Boats, shields and canoes were pitted, but only a few 
shields were perforated. 

" The conflict began in earnest, and lasted so long that am- 
munition had to be redistributed. We perceived that, as the 
conflict continued, every village sent out its quota. * * * 
At three o'clock, I counted sixty-three canoes opposed to us. 
* * * And, allowing five guns on an average to each of the 
sixty-three canoes, there were three hundred and fifteen mus- 
kets opposed to our forty-four. Their mistake was in sup- 
posing their slugs to have the same penetrative power and 
long range as our missiles had. * * * After the departure 
of the wounded chief to the shore, the firing became desultory, 
and at 5 : 30 P. M. our antagonists retired, leaving us to attend 
to our wounded, and to give three hearty cheers at our success. 
This was our thirty-first fight on the terrible river — the last but 
one — and certainly the most determined conflict that we had 
endured." 

The thirty-second fight took place March 9, a band of sav- 
ages attacking them just as they were preparing breakfast; 
fourteen men were wounded before the savages were repulsed, 
but none were killed. 

March 11, they arrived at a widening of the river into a lake- 
like expanse, which the leader, at the suggestion of his lieuten- 
ant, named Stanley Pool. Although their struggles with the 
natives were now at an end, having reached a point where they 
were more accessible to trade, the travelers found that they 
were by no means safe from dangers by river. Just below that 
expansion of the stream which was thus christened, are the 
cataracts now known as Livingstone Falls; and here new 
trials awaited them. 

Passing several bad pieces of river, they had reached a point 
just below the Cauldron, and Stanley Avas superintending ar- 



STANLEY CROSSES THE' DARK CONTINENT. 



577 



rangements for a camp on the hard white sand of the river- 
bank. Glancing up, to his horror he saw the Crocodile, one 
of the canoes, in mid-river, far below the point which they had 
rounded, gliding with the speed of an arrow toward the falls 
over the treacherous calm water. Human strength availed 
nothing ; he could but watch the vessel as she darted over the 
fall, bearing with her his boy Kalulu and four others. They 
saw it whirled round three or four times, then plunged down 
into the depths; out of which the stern presently emerged 
pointed upward; and then they knew that Kalulu and his ca- 
noe-mates were no more. 




Death of Kalulu. 



A second canoe darted by the horrified spectators, but almost 
by a miracle, shot over the falls, and was brought to land be- 
low, the two men in it escaping harm. A third canoe darted 
past them, having but one man in it; but he was less fortunate 
than the others, and was whirled down to instant death. 

In remembrance of the victim who had been most intimately 
connected with the leader, his body-servant Kalulu, the cata- 
ract was named Kalulu Falls. But Stanley himself was not to 
escape danger from the violence of the river. He had devised 



STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT. 579 

a means of descending the river in safety even in the midst of 
rapids, by means of cables of cane; but the impediments 
were greater at this point than they had ever been before, 
and by a careless slacking of the stern cable, the current 
swept the boat from the hands of that portion of the crew 
whose duty it was to lower her cautiously down the fall, to the 
narrow line of ebb-fiood below the rocky projection. It was 
useless to direct the men ; for the human voice was drowned 
in the roar of the mad waters ; oars were only useful to assist 
the helm, for they were flying with terrific speed past the series 
of boulders which strangled the river. 

** After two miles we were abreast of the bay or indentation 
at which we had hoped to camp, but the strong river mocked 
our efforts to gain it. The flood was resolved we should 
taste the bitterness of death. A sudden rumbling noise, like 
the deadened sound of an earthquake, caused us to look be- 
low, and we saw the river heaved bodily upward, as though a 
volcano was about to belch around us. Up to the summit of 
this watery mound we were impelled; and then divining what 
was about to take place, I shouted out: 

*' * Pull, men, for your lives ! ' 

** A few frantic strokes drove us to the lower side of the 
mound, and before it had finished subsiding, and had begun 
its usual fatal circling, we were precipitated over a small fall, 
and sweeping down toward the inlet into which the Nkenke 
cataract tumbled, below the lowest line of the Lady Alice 
rapids. Once or twice we were flung scornfully aside, and 
spun around contemptuously, as though we were too insignif- 
icant to be wrecked; then availing ourselves of a calm mo- 
ment, we resumed our oars, and soon entering the ebb-tide, 
rowed up river and reached the sandy beach at the junction of 
the Nkenke with the Livingstone." 

June 3, Stanley left the camp at Mowa to proceed to Zinga, 
in order to establish a camp at the latter place; the boats were 
then to be transported overland, since the river would not al- 
low of a voyage between these two points. Frank Pocock was 
left behind, for the time, until the leader should send men 
back with a hammock to carry him forward, for he was suffer- 
ing so much with ulcers on both feet that he was quite lame. 
The shoes of both had given out, though Stanley managed to 
keep his, tattered and slit as they were, upon his feet; and 
the slightest wound from the roughness of the road is liable 
in that climate to be poisoned by the bite of the insects. But 
Pocock was impatient, and insisted upon being taken in a 
37 



STANLEY CROSSES THE DARK CONTINENT. 581 

canoe which Uledi had been ordered to proceed with. In vain 
the faithful servitor argued that it was not safe for them to go 
by river; the young Englishman, a waterman by training, laugh- 
ed at his fears, and declared it was but cowardice which made 
him and his comrades hesitate. The boatmen were at last 
goaded by these taunts to undertake that which their better 
judgment told them was simply fool-hardy. 

*' In a few seconds they had entered the river; and in obedi- 
ence to Frank, Uledi steered his craft for the left side of the 
river. But it soon became clear that they could not reach it. 
There was a greasy slipperiness about the water that was de- 
lusive, and it was irresistibly bearing them broadside over the 
falls; and observing this, Uledi turned the prow, and boldly 
bore down for the center. Roused from his seat by the in- 
creasing thunder of the fearful waters, Frank rose to his feet, 
and looked over the heads of those in front, and now the full 
danger of his situation burst upon him. But too late! They 
had reached the fall, and plunged headlong amid the waves 
and spray. The angry waters rose, and leaped into their ves- 
sel, spun them round as though on a pivot, and so down over 
the- curling, dancing, leaping crests they were borne, to the 
whirlpools that yawned below. Ah I then came the moment of 
anguish, regret, and terror! 

" 'Hold on to the canoe, my men; seize a rope, each one,' 
said he, while tearing his flannel shirt away. Before he could 
prepare himself, the canoe was drawn down into the abyss, 
and the whirling, flying waters closed over all. When the 
vacuum was filled, a great body of water was belched upward, 
and the canoe was disgorged into the bright sunlight, with 
several gasping men clinging to it. When they had drifted a 
little distance away from the scene, and had collected their 
faculties, they found that there were only eight of them alive; 
and alas for us who were left to bewail his sudden doom, there 
was no white face among them. But presently, close to them, 
another commotion, another heaving and belching of waters, 
and out of them the insensible form of the ' little master' ap- 
peared, and they heard a loud moan from him. Then Uledi, 
forgetting his late escape from the whirling pit, flung out his 
arms and struck gallantly toward him, but another pool suck- 
ed them both in, and the waves closed over him before he 
could reach him; and for the second time the brave coxswain 
emerged, faint and weary — but Frank Pocock was seen no 
more." 
This was not the last of Stanley's troubles; many of his men, 



582 STAN1.EY CKOSSES THE DARK CONTINENT 

seeing^ no apparent hope of reaching smoother waters or a less 
difficult road, declared that they would go no further; and 
more than thirty of them actually set out on their journey back. 
They were, however, persuaded to return; not only by those 
who remained faithful to him, but by the determination of the 
natives to help none of those who had deserted their white 
master. 

He had thought it slow traveling when, from the 16th of 
March to the 21st of April inclusive, a period of thirty-seven 
days, the expedition had made but thirty-four miles' pro- 
gress ; but it required thirty days to transport the expedition 
from Mowa to Zinga, a distance of three miles; and four men 
had been drowned during that time. 

Late in July they reached the Yellala. Here the boats were 
abandoned, even the Lady Alice being left to bleach and rot 
on the shores of the mighty river; and everything not abso- 
lutely necessary being given to the men to buy food, the worn 
and weary and sadly diminished expedition set out on the way 
to the coast, -^ve or six days off. 

They were literally starving men, for the food which they 
were able to obtain from the natives was small in quantity and 
poor in quality. Nearly forty of them were sick, with dysen- 
tery, ulcers, or scurvy ; they had no fear of death left, and no 
hope of life; they dragged themselves wearily onward, not 
knowing who would be the next to fall, only sure that none of 
them would again reach their home. 

And what of the leader? He had shared all their trials; he 
was hungry and weary and footsore and heartsore as they were ; 
he had seen the last companion of his own race swept away by 
the remorseless Congo, it was on him that the responsibility 
of the whole expedition rested; but the indomitable spirit 
which was lacking in the '' untutored mind" of the black men 
bore him up and gave him strength to utter words of encour- 
agement to them. 

They arrived at the village of Nsanda August 4 ; the chief 
seemed kindly and pleasant. He informed the new-comer that 
he had frequently been to Boma, that he carried ground-nuts 
there and exchanged them for rum . S uddenly Stanley asked him 
if he would carry a letter to Boma, and allow three men of the 
expedition to accompany him. He promised to send two of his 
young men, and Stanley wrote his letter — an appeal *' To any 
Gentleman who speaks English at Embomma" for such help 
as was needed — food for immediate use, and cloth with which 
to purchase further supplies. Uledi, Kacheche, and two oth- 



FKOM OCEAN TO OCEAN. 583 

ers, one of whom was a pupil of the Universities' Mission at 
Zanzibar, and was to act as interpreter, volunteered for the 
journey; and two guides were furnished by the chief. 

The expedition marched on more slowly, finding it impossi- 
ble to procure food where they were; "Wait for the market- 
days," they were told. Two days later, while they were en- 
camped near Banza Mbuko, and Stanley was thoroughly 
sick at heart because of the distress of his starving people, 
the messengers returned, bringing with them rice, sweet pota- 
toes and fish in 'generous quantities for all hands, and rum 
and tobacco in smaller quantities, to be dealt out by the mas- 
ter; with such luxuries as wheaten bread, butter, tea, coffee 
loaf-sugar, jam, sardines, salmon, plum-pudding, ale, sherry, 
port and champagne for the white man who had left all these 
behind him three years before. 

Messengers were dispatched bearing the hearty thanks of 
the now well-fed men, and then the main body again took up 
the line of march. August 9, 1877, they prepared to greet the 
"van of civilization," the 999th day after their departure from 
Zanzibar. Of the welcome which there awaited him at the 
hands of those who had so promptly and generously respond- 
ed to his appeal, we need not speak; our story draws to a 
close as the gaunt and way-worn men descend the slope to- 
ward the white town of Boma, and start with surprise as they 
see a steamer anchored in the broad brown river. 

Here they remained two days; andthenproceded down the riv- 
er on this steamer to Kabinda. The sickness of many members of 
the expedition detained Stanley here for some time, as he was 
anxious to see all his men off to Zanzibar before sailing for 
Europe : but at last he was free to return, and though he chose 
to accompany the members of the expedition as far as the 
Cape of Good Hope on their return journey, he was still eager- 
ly looking forward to the home-coming. Yet, even at this time, 
he was not unmindful of the feelings of his followers; he saw 
that they were sorrowful, and guessed the reason ; they ac- 
knowledged that it was so, that their hearts were heavy be- 
cause he was about to leave them while they were still far 
from their homes ; and he resolved to accompany them on the 
voyage from Cape Town to Zanzibar. November 26, they ar- 
rived at the end of their return journey; and December 13, 
having paid off his men and also what was due to the surviv- 
ing relatives of those who had not returned, Stanley embarked 
for England. A journey through the Dark Continent, was, for 
the first time in the history of the world, an accomplished fact. 



CHAPTEE XX. 



PORTUGUESE EXPLOEATIOJ^S AMD MAJOR SERF A 

PIMTO. 

T is time that we should turn from the record of expedi- 
tions conducted by those of our own race or kindred peo- 
ples, and consider what other nations have been doing to 
explore the wilds of Africa. For many years, the southern 
nations of Europe had been but slightly interested in this 
work ; at least, their interest was not shown by efforts such as 
England made. There were explorers who undertook the 
difficult and dangerous task of penetrating into the wilds of 
this savage country; but their efforts were not the result of 
any government's determination to assist the cause of science. 
In 1875, however, the Portuguese government began to dis- 
cuss the subject; the next year, the Central Permanent Geo- 
graphical Commission and the Geographical Society of Lisbon 
were established, and the plans began to take definite shape. 
May 25, 1877, Major Alexandre de Serpa Pinto and Lieutenant 
Hermenigildo Carlos de Brito Capello were commissioned to 
undertake the task, and a grant of thirty contos (about $33,- 
000) was made by the government. They selected as a third 
associate Lieut. Eoberto Ivens, and engaged to be ready to 
start July 5. 

Their instructions were explicitly laid down by the same act 
which granted the supplies of money necessary. The expedi- 
tion was for the purpose of surveying the hydrographic rela- 
tions between the Congo and Zambesi basins, and the countries 
comprised between the Portuguese Colonies, on both coasts of 
South Central Africa. Subsequent instructions laid more 
stress on a survey of the River Cuango in connection with the 
Zaire; a study of the countries in which the Cunene, Coanza, 
and Cobango take their rise, as far as the Upper Zambesi; 
and if possible, a careful survey of the course of the Cunene. 

585 



586 PORTUGUESE EXPLORATIONS AND MAJOR SERPA PINTO. 

They arrived at Loanda August 6. It was their intention to 
travel eastward from this point until they reached the Cuango ; 
to descend that river for two degrees, enter the Cassby, de- 
scend to the Zaire, and explore that stream to its mouth. Be- 
fore these plans could be put into practice, however, Stanley 
returned to the coast, and made known to the emissaries of 
Portugal that he had accomplished a portion of the task which 
they had marked out for themselves. This, added to the im- 
possibility of obtaining carriers at Loanda, caused a change in 
their plans. 

Major Serpa Pinto proceeded to Benguella, in order to pro- 
cure there, if possible, the carriers who could not be obtained 
at Loanda. After much delay, he succeeded in having his 
baggage transported first to Benguella, and then to Dombe, a 
point about thirty-five miles southwest of the port mentioned. 
Here it was necessary to engage a new set of carriers ; for it 
is extremely difficult to secure men who are willing to under- 
take such a long journey as they proposed; and those who had 
been engaged at Benguella would not go any farther than 
Dombe. It was the 4th of December before they were ready to 
leave Dombe, their first objective point being Quillengues, which 
was reached eight days later. Here sickness and other cir- 
cumstances detained them until New Year's day, when they 
recommenced their journey. 

The journey was pursued, without special event, until they 
reached Caconda; here the party separated. Major Serpa 
Pinto, accompanied by ten men, leaving his associates at 
Caconda while he made an excursion toward the northeast, in 
order to find carriers. He set out Feb. 8; nine days later, he 
received letters, signed by Capello and Ivens, stating that they 
had resolved to push on alone. He knew that he was safe in 
this savage country only because his little force was regarded 
as the vanguard of a considerable number of men ; when his 
weakness should be declared, what would be the result? For 
some time, he seriously debated the question of returning to 
Caconda, thence to Benguella; assured that only his compan- 
ions' ignorance of the perils which surrounded him could have 
caused their practical desertion of him in this extremity. 
Some idea may be formed of the difficulties which attended 
his journey, and of the manner in which he surmounted them, 
by the following account of his reception by a chief of the 
Dumbo, whose village he reached after a journey, the stages 
of which were marked by his sickness and suffering. The ac- 
count is given in the words of Serpa Pinto : 



PORTTJGMJESE EXPLORATIONS AND MAJOR SERPA PINTO. 587 

'*Inthe evening I sent three bottles of aguardente to my 
host and reminded him not to fail me the next morning in re- 
spect to carriers. Contrary to the hospitable customs of the 
natives, the chief had sent me nothing whatsoever to eat; 
and as none would sell us any flour, we were beginning to get 
very hungry. It was about eight o'clock at night that, in a 
very bad humor and with an empty stomach, I was about to 
retire to rest, when I heard a knocking at my door, which was 
immediately followed by the entrance of my host, the chief 
Cassoma, another named Palanca, and five of the wives of the 
latter. 

"We conversed a while about my journey, but Cassoma 
suddenly broke in with the remark, that they had not come 
there to talk; and addressing himself pointedly to his friend, 
he added: 

*' We want aguardente, as you know; so tell the white man 
to give it to us." 

*'My host, encouraged by the impudence of Cassoma, then 
told me that I must give him and his wives some liquor. I re- 
plied that I had already given him three bottles, although he 
had not offered me bit or sup in return ; that it was the first 
time that I had been allowed by a chief who had proffered me 
hospitality to go to bed fasting, and that I therefore should 
not part with another drop of aguardente. A warm contro- 
versy ensued between us, which lasted for more than an 
hour; and although I managed to keep my temper, prudence 
and patience were tried to their utmost limits. Patience and 
prudence, however, alike gave way when my unwelcome vis- 
itors declared that as I would not give them what they wanted, 
they intended to help themselves. Pushing the cask towards 
them with my foot, I seized and cocked my revolver, and ask- 
ed who intended to take the first drink. They hesitated a few 
moments, and then Dumbo took two steps towards the cask. 
I raised my revolver to the height of his head and fired ; but 
Yerissimo Goncalves, who stood by me, knocked up my arm, 
and the ball went crashing into the wall of the hut. The three 
negroes, trembling with fear, retreated to as great a distance 
from me as the dimensions of the building would allow, and 
the ^ve women set up a horrible chorus of screams. Yeris- 
simo, then, in a confidential tone, informed my host and his 
companions that they had better retire and not say a word to 
arouse my anger, for that I should put myself in a rage again 
he would not answer for the consequences or be able perhaps 
to save their lives. * * * At dawn I made prepara- 



588 PORTUGUESE EXPLORATIONS AND MAJOR SERPA PINTO. 

tions for departure, and then took the bold course of sum- 
moning the chief, who was not long in making his appearance. 
I told him that I was about to continue my journey, and should 
leave my property under his care until such time as I should 
send for it. In a very subdued manner he begged me not to 
do that, as he would furnish me with carriers; he made a 
thousand apologies for the occurrence of the evening before, 
the whole blame of which he threw upon Cassoma, whom, as 
he averred, he had turned out of his house. This, however, 
was not true, as I caught a glimpse of the fellow a little la- 
ter on.'' 

Dombo was in such haste to make up the number of car- 
riers, that he sent half a dozen female slaves with the men 
whom he mustered for the purpose. Serpa Pinto requested 
that a guide might be furnished him to the country of the 
Bihe, and named the chief Palanca, the friend and confidant 
of Dombo. The request was granted; and thus a hostage for 
his own safety and that of his property was placed in the 
hands of the traveler. 

It was not long before Serpa Pinto found the wisdom of 
having demanded this hostage. When they came to the banks 
of the Cubango, the carriers furnished by Dombo refused to 
go any farther; that was the boundary of their country; and 
if the white man, who had been so angry with their chief, got 
them across the river, there was no telling what he would do 
with them. Serpa Pinto's eyes fell upon the figure of Palan- 
ca; in a moment he had thrown himself upon the negro, and 
disarmed and thrown him to the ground. He called to his 
men to bind him hand and foot, and then bade them hang 
him to a convenient branch of an acacia. The rope was about 
his neck before he fairly knew what was intended; and he 
cried out in terror : 

"• Don't kill me, don't kill me ! The carriers shall go across 
the Cubango!" 

He commanded them to take up their loads and follow him, 
a command which they obeyed without hesitation. His feet 
were then unbound, and, accompanied by the leader of the 
expedition holding a revolver pointed at his head, with the 
noose still about his neck, and his hands still bound, Palanca 
led the carriers and the others of the party to a well-construct- 
ed bridge, by which they safely crossed the Cubango. 

But the traveler was determined that such unwilling service 
should be punished, even although he paid for it just what 
he had agreed to give them. This is his account: 



PORTUGUESE EXPLORATIONS AND MAJOR SERPA PINTO. 589 

*' I paid and discharged the Sambo carriers, giving them a 
yard of striped cloth each, which was the recompense agreed 
on. I then called the six girls, and told them that I should 
give them nothing, as women were bound to work, and de- 
served no pay. They hung their heads in a very downcast 
fashion, but made no remark at my decision, so degraded is 
the position of women in this part of the world. Just as they • 
were about to start, and had turned their heads toward the 
Sambo, I ordered them to come back, when I made each of 
them a present of a couple of yards of the most brilliant 
chintz I possessed, and some strings of different beads. It is 
impossible to describe the delight of these poor creatures at 
receiving a gift so splendid. The men looked on in envy, and 
I improved the occasion by pointing out to them that if they 
had not mutinied on the other side of the Cubango I would 
have given them the same guerdon. This was my revenge, 
and I hope the lesson was not lost on the fellows." 

He arrived at last in the country of the Bihe, at the settle- 
ment of Belmonte. Here he met with his companions, Ca- 
pello and Ivens; but, although the reason for such a decision 
does not appear from Major Serpa Pinto's narrative, they 
seem to have parted company with him for the whole of the 
expedition. This determination on their part he attributes to 
the counsels of certain men, who, originally sent to Africa as 
convicts by the Portuguese government, had remained there 
after the expiration of the term for which they were trans- 
ported, and acquired some influence over these explorers. 

Prostrated by fever and rheumatism, it was some time be- 
fore Serpa Pinto was able to consummate any plans which he 
might make for leaving Belmonte. He was sorely tempted to 
return to Benguella, and thence to his home and family; but 
the resolve to finish the task which he had undertaken over- 
came this feeling, and he planned his further journey while 
lying on his sick-bed. He would make directly for the upper 
Zambesi, following the lofty ridge of country in which the 
rivers of that part of Africa take their rise ; on arriving at the 
Zambesi, he would travel eastward and survey the affluents of 
the left bank of the. stream; and descending to the Zumbo, 
proceed thence to Quillimane by Tete and Senna. The most 
experienced traders, who heard of his project, assured him 
that he would not get half way to the Zambesi ; and evidently 
thought that his mind was wandering when he spoke of at- 
tempting this. He went quietly on with his preparations, and 
was ready to set out in April, could carriers have been obtain- 



590 POETUGUESE EXPLORATIONS AKB MAJOR SERPA PINTO. 

ed, and had his stock of goods which were to be forwarded 
from Benguella reached him by that time. 

We must not pass over without note an incident that befell 
during this period. Among his negro attendants there was 
one by the name of Augusto, who had proved faithful when 
many others had failed him. Augusto was a fair shot, possessed 
of herculean strength, with courage to correspond ; there were 
few that did not like him, and these few feared him; so that 
when he was promoted to the rank of chief little wonder was 
excited. But this model of manly virtue had one failing: he 
would get married. He had a wife in Benguella when Serpa 
Pinto first employed him ; he took another at Dombe ; a third 
at Quill engues. He was married again at Caconda, and yet 
once more in the country of the Huambo. Since his arrival 
among the Bihe he had gone through the marriage ceremony 
three or four times, when, as the complaints of his vgirious 
wives became troublesome, Major Serpa Pinto summoned him 
to his presence, and told him that this thing must be stopped; 
threatening to turn him adrift if he did not mend his ways. 
Augusto threw himself at his master's feet, wept, and promised 
to reform, if he might only have a piece of cloth to divide 
among the women, so as to stop their tongues. He vowed to 
have nothing more to say to them, and the major, delighted at 
the change so easily wrought, gave him the cloth. That very 
evening, sounds of merriment were heard proceeding from a 
hut at- some distance; Major Serpa Pinto inquired as to the 
cause, and was told that Augusto was being married to a girl 
from the village of Jamba. He interfered no more. 

It was not until the first week in June that he was enabled 
to leave this village, and then the requisite carriers had not 
been obtained. Some were employed for temporary assistance, 
who would only promise to go to a certain point; and some of 
his handful of devoted followers volunteered to perform ad- 
ditional duties. When a week had passed by, he determined 
to destroy sixty-one of his loads, for which carriers could not 
be found. The first question that naturally occurs to the read- 
er is this : Why should these goods be destroyed? The trav- 
eler himself answers by saying that if they were left to the peo- 
ple in whose territory the white man found himself, he would 
never be able to get any carriers there again; if they were di- 
vided among the carriers themselves, these men would be con- 
stantly watching their opportunity to desert with the wealth 
so acquired. 

Crossing the Cuanza by means of a rubber boat which he 



PORTUGUESE EXPLORATIONS AND MAJOR SERPA PINTO. 591 

had brought with him, and some few small canoes which were 
furnished by the natives, Serpa Pinto found himself among the 
Quimbandes. Here he was received with unexpected honors, 
the army entertaining him with a sham battle, after which it 
was announced that the sova, or chief, would pay him a visit 
in his quarters. The traveler's description is of interest, in 
connection with the next day's entertainment: 

" If he evinced surprise at sight of me, I am sure I must 
have done so at sight of him, as he was certainly the biggest 
man I had ever beheld in my life. To an enormous height he 
added a trunk of truly phenomenal proportions, and was oth- 
erwise inordinately fat. Eound his huge waist was twisted an 
old cloth, from which hung three leopard skins." 

The next day brought a request from the sova for a pair of 
trousers; these had to be made to order by one of the major's 
attendants; and he records that they took five yards of wide 
calico. On the succeeding day, an envoy came to inform the 
stranger that as it was a time of high carnival,the sova would do 
him the honor to come to his camp, masked, and dance before 
him. At eight o'clock some of his attendants arrived, accom- 
panied by a great crowd of spectators ; and half an hour later 
the royal performer himself appeared. His head was thrust 
into a huge gourd, painted black and white; and his enormous 
body was made still larger by an osier frame, covered with 
grass-cloth, likewise painted black and white. A sort of coat, 
made of horsehair and the tails of animals, completed his gro- 
tesque attire. 

** Immediately upon his arrival, the men formed themselves 
into a line with the attendants behind, and the women and 
girls removed to a distance. The attendants and men, with 
upright and motionless bodies, then began a monotonous chant 
which they accompanied by clapping their hands. 

" His majesty took up his station about thirty paces in front 
of the line and began an extraordinary performance, wherein 
he acted the part of a wild beast torn with rage, and jumped 
and capered about amidst the utmost applause from his own 
people and mine. This lasted half an hour, at the end of 
which time he ran off at full speed, followed by his men. He 
re-appeared shortly afterwards and returned to my camp, in 
his ordinary attire, and passed the rest of the day with me. 
Decidedly I had succeeded in winning his good graces." 

The marshes which form the sources of the Cuanda and the 
Cubangui were passed during the first half of July; and pro- 
ceeding along the stream of the latter river, they at length 



PORTUGUESE EXPLORATIONS AND MAJOR SERPA PINTO. 593 

were enabled to launch one of the rubber boats brought from 
England, and descend the river by that easier method. 

Leaving the river Cubangui, he struck across the country to 
the Cuchibi, which here is nearly parallel . He crossed this latter 
stream near Cahuheu-ue, where, on a ford which the natives 
pointed out to him as a safe place to cross, he observed that a 
man of medium stature could wade breast-high for a space of 
twenty-one yards. His porters carried their burdens on their 
heads while fording this stream. 

From this point he crossed the plain of the Nhengo, which 
lies nearly four thousand feet above the level of the sea, and 
which is little more than a vast marsh, the surface yielding 
slowly but surely to the pressure of the body, and the cavity 
filling at once with water. While crossing this, says the trav- 
eler, he always lay down on a dry bed, formed of dry leaves 
covered with skins; but always woke up in a puddle. At last 
the Nhengo itself was reached ; and after following its course 
for several days, on the morning of August 24, 1878, they 
reached the banks of the Zambesi. 

He was now within the limits of that vast empire of south- 
ern Africa, of which Lialui is the capital, and of which Chibi- 
tano, celebrated by Livingstone, was the founder. Leaving 
the banks of the Zambesi immediately after crossing that 
stream where the Nhengo empties into it, he proceeded at once 
to the capital, where he was received with considerable cere- 
mony by the king. - His resources were now nearly exhausted ; 
and his further journey depended largely upon the decision of 
this monarch. It was with no small anxiety, then, that the 
Portuguese soldier awaited the determination of the African 
chief. 

The answer thus awaited was so unfavorable that Serpa Pin- 
to had grave intentions of precipitating a revolution; for the 
king declared that only one path was open to the white man, 
and that lay through the country of the Bihe, and led to Ben- 
guella. The traveler declined to accept this invitation to re- 
trace his steps, and behaved with the most determined cour- 
age. The king's attendants, seeing that he was not to be eas- 
ily frightened, secretly plotted against him; on one occasion, 
a bullet that had been intended for him wounded one of the 
conspirators, so bad was the aim in the semi-darkness; and 
the treachery of these men was revealed to him by a faithful 
slave, on whose knowledge of their language they had not 
counted. The king was not really in the plot; for he and 
Serpa Pinto had to depend upon interpreters for their com- 



PORTUGUESE EXPLORATIONS ANT) ^lAJOR SERPA PINTO. 595 

munications to each other, and Serpa Pinto's words were 
purposely misrepresented to the king, so as to make him 
angry. 

This was the state of affairs when, one evening in Septem- 
ber, Serpa Pinto was sitting in front of his hut. Let him tell 
the story: "Suddenly my attention was attracted by a num- 
ber of bright lights flitting about the encampment. Unable as 
I was at the moment to explain the meaning of the strange 
spectacle, nevertheless my mind misgave me as to its object, 
and I jumped up and looked for the cane fencing which sur- 
rounded my dwelling. Directly I caught a fair view of the 
field, the whole was revealed to me, and an involuntary cry of 
horror escaped from my lips. Some hundreds of aborigines sur- 
rounded the encampment, and were throwing burning brands 
upon the huts, whose only covering was a loose thatch of dry 
grass. In a minute the flames, incited by a strong east wind, 
spread in every direction. The Quimbares, in alarm, rushed 
out from their burning huts, and ran hither and thither like 
madmen. Augusto and the Benguella men gathered quickly 
about me. In presence of such imminent peril, there fell up- 
on me, what I have more than once experienced under similar 
circumstances, namely, the completest self-possession. My 
mind became cool and collected, and I felt only the determi- 
nation to resist and come out victorious. I called aloud to my 
people, half demented at finding themselves begirt by a ring 
of fire, and succeeded in collecting them together in the space 
occupying the center of the camp. Aided by Augusto and the 
Benguella men, I dashed into my hut, then in flames, and 
managed to get out in safety the trunks containing the instru- 
ments, my papers, the labor of so many months, and the pow- 
der. By that time the whole of the huts were ablaze, but hap- 
pily the fire could not reach us where we stood. Yerissimo 
was at my side. I turned to him and said : ' I can defend my- 
self here for a considerable time; make your way through, 
where and how you can, and speed to Lialui. There see Lo- 
bossi, and tell him that his people are attacking me. See also 
Machuana, and inform him of my danger.' 

* 'Yerissimo ran towards the burning huts, and I watched 

him until he disappeared amid the ruins. By that time the 

assegais were falling thickly around us, and already some of 

my men had been badly wounded. My Quimbares answered 

these volleys with rifle-balls, but still the natives came on, 

and had now made their way into the encampment, where the 

huts all lying in ashes offered no effective barrier to their ad- 
38 



PORTUGUESE EXPLORATIONS AND MAJOR SERPA PINTO. 597 

vance. * * * As the fires were going down, I perceived 
the danger to be most imminent. Our enemies were a hun- 
dred to our one. It was like a glimpse of the infernal regions, to 
behold those stalwart negroes, by the light of the lurid flames, 
darting hither and thither. Screaming in unearthly accents, 
and ever advancing nearer, beneath the cover of their shields, 
while they brandished in the air and then cast their murder- 
ous assegais. * * * Augusto, who fought like an enraged 
lion, came to me with anguish depicted on his face, as he 
held up his rifle, which had just burst. I passed the word to 
my little nigger, Pepeca, to give him my elephant rifle and 
cartridge-box. Thus armed, the brave fellow ran to the front, 
and discharged his piece point-blank against the enemy where 
their ranks were thickest. At the instant the infernal shouts 
of the assailants changed their tone, and, amid "screams of 
fright, they precipitately fled. It was not until the next day 
that I learned, through king Lobossi, what had produced this 
sudden change in the aspect of affairs. It was solely due to 
the unexpected shots of Augusto. In the cartridge-box in- 
trusted to him were some balls charged with nitro-glycerine ! 

*' The effect of these fearful missiles, which decapitated or 
otherwise tore in pieces all who were subject to their explo- 
sion, had produced the timely panic among these ignorant 
savages, who fancied they saw in this novel assault an irre- 
sistible sorcery. Their unpremeditated employment at such a 
critical time seemed almost providential." 

Although Lobossi disclaimed all knowledge of this attack, 
he showed himself far from friendly. Not only did he refuse 
to provide the strangers with food, but he forbade any of his 
subjects selling it to them. They were therefore forced to 
depend upon such game as they could kill, and the fish, which, 
fortunately, were abundant in the streams. 

But even darker days were to come ; for one night, wishing 
to observe the re-appearance of the first satellite of Jupiter, 
Serpa Pinto, who was thoroughly worn out, directed Augusto 
to call him when the moon had reached a certain height. He 
was aroused, but not for astronomical observations ; the faithful 
fellow told him in a broken voice, that his people had fled, 
and taken with them everything. It was but too true. Six 
faithful servants, among whom were Augusto and Verissimo, 
and the wives of two of them, were all that remained. His in- 
struments and papers were indeed safe, but his arms were 
valueless, since the fugitives had taken with them all the am- 
munition except about fifty charges. 



PORTUGUESE EXPLORATIONS AND MAJOR SERPA PINTO. 599 

Augusto could not sufficiently blame himself for having s^pt 
upon his post; the major was completely unnerved by the ter- 
rible prospect before him. But after a period of complete 
prostration, he remembered that all was not lost. In a case 
which had been carefully kept separate from the other arms, 
was a rifle which the king of Portugal had presented to him; 
in this case were the implements for casting bullets, and all 
things needful to charge the cartridges, when once the metal 
envelopes were obtained ; also five hundred percussion caps. 
Only lead was wanting, and that was supplied by the net which 
had been set for fish, and duly weighted. 

Thus provided, they were, to a considerable extent, inde- 
pendent of Lobossi; at least they felt themselves so, although 
they had before the theft been provided with ammunition, and 
that was all that they had now. But blessings had brightened 
as they seemed to be taking flight; and Serpa Pinto resolved 
that he would no longer be exposed to Lobossi's intrigues. 

They accordingly^ left Lui without delay, and supported 
themselves by hunting ; being as economical as possible with 
their small store of ammunition. They pursued their course 
down the Zambesi, in a canoe scooped out of the long trunk 
of a tree. They started on the first day of October. From 
their halting-place on the night of the 3d, the officer set 
out early the next morning to walk to the cataract of Gonha, 
the roar of which he had heard plainly all during the night. 
The cutting produces three grand falls ; between and over the 
rocks which separate the three masses of water, tumble in- 
numerable cascades, producing a marvelous effect. On the left, 
a third branch of the river continues for some little distance 
on the same level as the upper part of the stream, producing 
a series of cascades farther down the stream, where it joins 
the main stream again. 

The next day, he surveyed the path over which the boats 
would have to be carried, to be launched on the lower portion 
of the stream. A hamlet has been established by the Lui govern- 
ment at Sioma, near the falls, for the express purpose of pro- 
viding bearers for the boats of those who descend the stream; 
and it was in this way that Serpa Pinto procured the necessary 
force. 

They continued their voyage down the Zambesi, which they 
did not find quite as smooth as a summer sea. Their slight 
canoes, however, passed the rapids in safety; somewhat to the 
surprise of the officer, who expresses his wonder that they 
were not capsized every few hours. 



PORTUGUESE EXPLORATIONS Am) MAJOR SERPA PINTO. 601 

As far back as Lui, Serpa Pinto had heard that there was a 
white man, a missionary, traveling toward the interior, and he 
now heard a confirmation of this rumor. He had left the Zam- 
,besi and struck across to the Cuando; encamping on its 
banks, he was startled to learn that a white man was encamp- 
ed directly opposite to him. Investigation proved that there 
were two, zoological explorers, Dr. Bradshaw and Mr. Walsh, 
his assistant. They were unable to help the Portuguese in any 
way except by inviting him to a well-cooked meal, to which he 
brought a most excellent appetite, 

He found that the missionary of whom he had heard, a 
Frenchman named Coillard, was settled not far off; and to 
his home the traveler, prostrated by his old enemy, fever, was 
' taken. Recovered from this attack, Serpa PintO decided to 
go to the great cataract of the Zambesi, and set off, accom- 
panied only by two servants, one of whom was Augusto. 

It is impossible to survey, with any degree of complete- 
ness, this great cataract: one must risk one's life to do it at all. 
It was thus that our traveler conducted his operations, en- 
deavoring to ascertain, by means of two triangles, the width 
of the chasm at the top and bottom. 

'* In my first measurements I had as my base the side of 328 
feet, found to be the upper width of the rift: but it was neces- 
sary to seethe foot of the wall, and I had to risk my life to do so. 
I made Augusto and Catraio strip off their garments, which I 
tied together. These were composed of striped cotton-cloth, 
which had already seen a good deal of service, and did not 
present all the security one would have desired, but I had no 
other available. I bound the improvised rope about my body 
under the armpits, in order to leave my hands free, and tak- 
ing my sextant, ventured over the precipice. The loose ends 
were held by Augusto and a Macalaca residing in the neigh- 
borhood of the falls. They trembled with fear at the whole 
proceeding, and made me tremble in turn, so that it took 
me a much longer time than usual to measure the angle. 
When I told them to pull me up, and I found myself once 
more with the solid rock under my feet, it seemed as if I had 
just awoke out of a terrible nightmare." 

Such is the difficulty confronting the surveyor who would 
measure the height and breadth of Mozi-oa-tunia, the great 
cataract of the Zambesi. But the explorer had but little time 
to spend here; it had been agreed that he should join his 
friends, the Coillards, at Daca; and thither he now turned his 
steps. This union of their forces was rendered necessary by 




MA J. SERPA PINTO AND REMNANT OF EXPEDITION. 



PORTUGUESE EXPLORATIONS AND MAJOR SERPA PINTO. 603 

their poverty; we have seen how the explorer's possessions 
had dwindled, and the missionary's had been destroyed by fire, 
while they were in the hands of a native friendly chief await- 
ing his sending for them. 

Reaching Daca, he spent some days resting, and waiting un- 
til indications of rain should promise them safety in their at- 
tempt to cross the desert, now so parched that they could 
scarcely hope to pass it without perishing from thirst. Decem- 
ber 2, they broke camp. Of the journey across the Kalahari, 
or Great Southern Desert, we need say but a word. It was 
without notable event, and was terminated by their arrival on 
New Year's Day at Shoshong. 

This place is the chief town of the Bamanguatos, a tribe 
which is more nearly civilized than any with which he had yet 
come in contact. Major Serpa Pinto ascribes this fact to the 
labors of the missionaries ; but adds that if a less thoroughly 
Christianized king should succeed the present ruler, he could 
easily lead the people back to paganism and polygamy again. 
The gallant major seems to have no belief in the capacity of 
African peoples for civilization in Africa. 

The explorer left Shoshong about the middle of January, 
having procured, through an English resident of that town, 
enough money to fit him out with a wagon, oxen and a saddle- 
horse; also to employ an Englishman named Stanley as 
driver for the oxen. They were bound for the Limpopo, but 
were disappointed to find that recent rains had swollen the 
Ntuani to a torrent which it was impossible to cross without a 
boat. There was no help for it, then, but to encamp upon its 
banks and wait for the waters to go down. This result was 
attained in a couple of days, and the oxen and horse swam the 
diminished torrent safely. 

One night, while encamped near the Limpopo, Major Serpa 
Pinto had remained awake longer than usual, in order to take 
certain observations. He was lighted by a magnesium light, 
which plays no small part in after events. He had just made 
one observation, and was busily engaged in making calculations 
accordingly, when he was startled by a frightful roar. His 
horse, which was tied to the wagon, gave such a tug at the 
rope that he actually moved the heavy vehicle; the oxen, 
in a paroxysm of fear, broke into the inclosure where the 
leader and his trusty followers were sitting. But let him tell 
his own story: 

" I put down the sextant and seized .my rifle, which was al- 
ways at my side. Augusto turned the focus of the light in the 



604 PORTUGUESE EXPLORATIONS AND MAJOR SERPA PINTO. 

direction whence the horrid sound had proceeded, and the 
bright glare flashed full in the faces of two enormous lions. 
The beasts, fascinated by the brilliant light, stood for the in- 
stant like statues, and gave me time to take deliberate aim. 
The two barrels belched forth their contents at the interval of 
a few seconds, and both lions fell mortally wounded. * * * 
I put down my gun and resumed my sextant, in order to finish 
my altitudes of Aldebaran, which had been so disagreeably 
interrupted." 

The journey through the Transvaal was not marked by any 
notable event, and on February 12, the traveler arrived at 
the capital of that country, Pretoria. He was detained in this 
part of the continent for some time, owing to the confusion 
caused by the Zulu war; but finally secured passage in a ves- 
sel bound for Aden, whence he journyed along well known 
ways, reaching Lisbon June 9. He had crossed Africa from 
sea to sea. 




A Camp Disturbed. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



THE COjYGO free STATE AJs'B KECEJ^T EXPLOBA- 

TI0j\3. 

TANLEY returned to civilization, full of enthusiasm con- 
cerning the great water-way which he had traced from 
source to mouth. He declared that the Congo was the' 
great path to West Central Africa; and that the power 
possessing this river, despite the cataracts, would absorb to 
itself the trade of the whole enormous basin. Nor was he 
alone in his opinion of its greatness ; Gambetta said to him, 
when publicly and officially congratulating him upon the re- 
sults of his journey: 

** You have given an impulse to scientific and philanthropic 
enterprise which will have a material effect upon the progress 
of the world. It is not only in the action of j^rivate in- 
dividuals that that is seen. What you have done has influ- 
enced governments — proverbially so difficult to be moved — 
and the impulse you have imparted to them will, I am con- 
vinced, go on growing year after year." 

This prediction of the recognition of the Congo's import- 
ance among water-ways found a fulfilment very shortly after it 
was uttered. Indeed it rested upon a basis of knowledge of 
what had been done ; for when Stanley reached Marseilles on 
his way home, he found awaiting him two commissioners from 
the king of the Belgians, who gave him to understand that 
Leopold II. expected to do something substantial for Africa, 
and expected the help of the explorer of the Congo. 

This was in January, 1878; Gambetta spoke the next July. 
The commissioners did not receive a very satisfactory reply; 
Stanley would advise, furnish details necessary for the com- 
plete equipment of an expedition, and its proper organiza- 
tion ; but as for himself, he was too sick and weary to think 
with patience of any suggestion that he should personally con- 

605 



606 THE COKGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 



duct it. *' Six months hence, I should view things differently; 
but at present I cannot think of anything more than a long 
rest and sleep." 

The volumes, "Through the Dark Continent," were finished by 
May, and then the tired explorer's rest really began. He paid 
a visit to Brussels, and found that the king was quite ready to 
wait until he should have recovered from the fatigues of that 
terrible journey. Some time afterward, he was invited by one 
of the commissioners to a conference in • Paris ; and the in- 
vitation was accepted. Early in November, he was requested 




II., Ruler of the Congo Free State. 

to be in Brussels by a certain date, at the royal palace at a 
certain hour. He went; and found himself in the midst of 
men of more or less note in the commercial or monetary 
circles of England, Germany, France, Belgium, and Holland. 
Ushered into the council room with these companions, he 
learned that the object of the meeting was to consider what 
might be done with the Congo River and its basin. He was 
closely questioned as to the navigability of the river, the 
probable attitude of the chiefs toward commercial enter- 



THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 607 

prises, the intelligence of the people, the cost of the right of 
way, the character of the products, and the amount of its 
produce if a railway should be built from Stanley Pool to some 
point on the lower Congo. Some of these questions he an- 
swered ; others were declared unanswerable ; and it was de- 
cided that an expedition should be sent out to find the an- 
sw^ers. Twenty thousand pounds were subscribed then and 
there, and the subscribers formed themselves into the 
" Comite d^ Etudes du Haut Congo J' ^ A series of resolutions 
were drawn up by which every subscriber bound himself to 
answer each call when further funds were necessary ; the offi- 
cers were elected, and Mr. Stanley was duly appointed to 
take charge of the expedition. 

The bankruptcy of some members of this Committee for 
the Study of the Congo led to returning the subscriptions of 
others, so that as finally constituted, the Committee comprised 
only those who were tjie managers of the affairs of The Afri- 
can International Association. Fully assured of its stability, 
the remaining members decided to assume the title of *'The In- 
ternational Association of the Congo." 

The two Associations must be carefully distinguished ; for 
although there are many points of similarity, and the member- 
ship of the two is nearly identical, the funds are kept 
separately, and the whole management of each is independent 
of the other. The African International Association was 
founded in 1876. In September of that year king Leopold- 
had invited a number of the leading geographers of the 
various countries of Europe to a conference, which resulted 
in the formation of an International Commission for the ex- 
ploration and civilization of Central Africa, having its head- 
quarters at Brussels. Each nation that was willing to co- 
operate was to form a committee for the purpose of collect- 
ing subscriptions for the common object and to send dele- 
gates to the Commission. Germany responded with the for- 
mation of the German African Association, which was to main- 
tain relations with the International Commission, but to de- 
vote the greater part of its funds toward the promotion of 
German undertakings of discovery and exploration in Africa. 
England decided not to *' trammel itself with engagements of 
an international nature, or with objects other than those con- 
nected with geography." France, Austro-Hungary, Italy, 
Spain, Switzerland, Russia, Holland, Portugal formed na- 
tional committees, and appointed the delegates as requested. 
Great Britain having withdrawn, the United States was invi- 



608 THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 

ted to participate in this movement, and a branch society 
was formed in New York, with Judge Daly as President ; he 
was afterward succeeded by Mr. Latrobe, of Baltimore, one of 
the founders of Liberia. 

The African International Association had sent out two ex- 
peditions before the International Association of the Congo 
was ready for any such step. The first of these got into some 
difficulties with Mirambo, to whom frequent reference has be- 
fore been made in this volume, two of the travelers succumbed 
to the climate, but owing to advice received from Stanley, suc- 
ceeded in reaching the Tanganyika, and the station there estab- 
lished has drawn near its friendly walls a greatly increased pop- 
ulation. The second expedition was organized by Stanley while 
at Zanzibar in 1879, busily engaged in selecting the men and 
completing other preparations for his own Congo Expedition. 

Sixty-eight Zanzibaris, three-fourths of whom had been with 
him on his journey across the continent, were enlisted; and 
toward the latter part of May, 1879, the steamer Albion de- 
parted on her long voyage to the river Congo, by way of the 
Red Sea and the Mediterranean. 

August 12, 1877, Stanley had reached Banana Point on his 
journey down the Congo ; August 14, 1879, he arrived at the 
mouth of the great river to ascend it, and pave the way for 
settlements and civilization. The officers of the expedition 
consisted of one American, two Englishmen, -^ve Belgians, 
two Danes, and one Frenchman. The flotilla consisted of a 
steel twin screw-steamer, La Belgiqite, and another, Espei"- 
ance ; a paddle-boat. En Avant; a mahogany life-boat, Eoyal ; 
two steel lighters ; a screw launch, iheJeune Africaine; and a 
wooden whale-boat. Seven days after the arrival of the Al- 
bion, the expedition flotilla was ready to ascend the Congo. 

English, Dutch, Portuguese and French trading companies 
have established themselves about the mouth of the Congo, 
and for some distance up the stream are seen the evidences of 
their enterprise. As far as Boma, the flotilla frequently met 
with steam vessels plying between that point and Banana; and 
the river was sometimes covered with native trading canoes. 

September 17, the Albion left for Europe, carrying with her 
the first report of the expedition. They were now ninety miles 
from the sea, with every promise of future success. Nine days 
later, they had reached Vivi. It must be remembered that 
pilots at that time were more doubtful about the possibility of 
navigating the Congo than they are at present; in 1879, Stan- 
ley found few who would assure him positively that a steamer 



THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 609 

of any considerable draught could ascend the river as- far as 
Boma; and his undertaking to go there in the vessels under 
his command was regarded by many experienced men as a ven- 
turesome undertaking. 

At Yivi, a tract of ground, about a mile long by a mile and 
a half wide, was procured for a landing-place and the build- 
ings which it would be necessary to erect for the station. The 
price was thirty-two pounds down and a rental of two pounds 
per month. In consideration of this payment, Stanley was to 
be considered the '*Mundele" of Vivi, a name applied origi- 
nally to traders, but subsequently to all white men. No man in 
his employ was to be molested by native chiefs, help was to be 
given for work, and travel was not to be interrupted. If any 
trouble arose between the settlers and the natives, it was to be 
decided by the Mundele. The papers confirming this agree- 
ment were drawn up in due form, and signed by the respective 
parties concerned in the transaction. 

October 1, began the work of constructing the necessary 
buildings for this, the lowest and most important station. The 
natives afforded the required assistance, and those who were 
not directly employed by Stanley stood by and admired the 
work which the white man directed. It was here that he gain- 
ed the soicbriqiiet of Bula Matari, the Breaker of Rocks, be- 
cause he showed his men how to manage a sledge-hammer to 
the best advantage in breaking up the rocks with which the 
brow of the hill was crowned. A garden was planned and 
made, the soil being brought from the valleys; and the stores 
were transferred to the places prepared for them. The work 
was completed January 24, 1880 ; and after allowing a few 
days' rest to his men, Stanley set about road-making for the in- 
terior. When a road should be made, it was his intention to 
return for the Eoyal, which was to be mounted on the great 
wagon; having resolved that she should be the courier of the 
expedition. 

Twelve Europeans were left at Yivi, Mr. Sparhawk being 
made its chief. The muster-roll comprised two hundred and 
fifteen names, of whom more than half were coast natives. 
Stanley now left for a reconnoissance of the country as far as 
Isangila, to explore the country for a feasible wagon route 
past the lower series of the Livingstone Cataracts, which con- 
sist of the Yellala, Inga and Isangila, with the various inter- 
vening ra*pids, which are practically nameless. 

He returned to Yivi March 10, accompanied by about ahun- 
dred natives whose curiosity had been excited by the stories of 



610 THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 

his men, that Bula Matari had built a town bigger than Boma. 
He calculated, in consequence of the information derived from 
this journey, that he would be obliged to make five round trips 
from Vivi to Isangila, before the final advance. The distance 
is fifty-two miles, so that this represents, in the aggregate, five 
hundred and seventy-two miles. First, a road must be made; 
then the Eoyal must be taken to Isangila; returning, the En 
Avant must be transported; on the next trip, two steel boats 
were to be taken; and two trips must be made for stores and 
provisions. Of course, the number of trips was made neces- 
sary by the fact that they had but three wagons, all of which 
were needed for each trip. These journeys could not be per- 
formed in less than ten months and ten days ; for over some 
parts of the route the boats could not be moved more than a 
mile a day. 

The work was begun March 18, 1880; thirty-five days later, 
the first section of the road, twenty-two and a third miles in 
length, was completed, and the road-makers were encamped on 
the banks of the Congo ; for the road did not lie directly along 
the river. February 18, 1881, found them at Isangila, having 
reached this point with the boats and stores after almost in- 
credible exertions. Two thousand three hundred and fifty-two 
miles represented the various marchings and counter-march- 
ing of the year since they had set out on the reconnoitering of 
the road to Isangila. 

During this year, six Europeans and twenty-two natives had 
died ; while thirteen white men had been invalided and re- 
tired. These statements show something of the troubles 
which accompanied their progress into the very heart of the 
Dark Continent. 

Arriving at Manyanga early in May, Stanley was prostrated 
by a severe attack of fever; so severe, that he once called his 
European comrades to him, to instruct them what to do after 
his death. He struggled hard to recover his fleeting sense 
long enough to utter an intelligible sentence ; by a great effort 
he succeeded in doing so. The result of the effort encouraged 
him ; he cried out : 

*'I am saved!" 

And sank back into a fit of unconsciousness which lasted for 
twenty-four hours, awaking to a sense of great hunger, which 
seems to have lasted for a longer period than his sickness. 

We pass over the months of slow but steady progress, until 
in November they reach Usansi. Here the chief, Ngalyema, 
seemed inclined to be hostile ; but Stanley was, as usual, equal 



THE CONGO FREE STATE AKD RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 611 

to the occasion. When expecting a visit from the chief, he 
instructed his men just how to act, suspecting that the chief 
meditated treachery and a surprise. 

An effusive welcome from Stanley awaited Ngalyema and 
and his attendants; most of the Zanzibaris who were visible 
affected extreme indifference, rather over-acting the part 
which had been assigned them. The chief and his party were 
either repelling or defiant. The chief devoted himself to as- 
suring Stanley that he could not go any farther ; Stanley bland- 
ly informed the chief that he certainly intended to advance. 
Suddenly, after a consultation with his companions, Ngalyema 
asked : 

*' What nice thing has my brother brought me from the 
white man's land since I saw him!" 

Stanley then invited him to his tent, and offered certain 
presents. But even then, the chief refused to permit the 
building of a station, and journeys further inland through his 
territory. As he left the tent, he caught sight of a large gong 
suspended to a cross-bar between two forked poles. 

'' What is this?" he asked. 

*'It is fetish," answered Stanley, sententiously. 

The chief insisted that he wished to hear it; Stanley appar- 
ently demurred; it was war-fetish, and he dared not strike it. 
Still the chief insisted again and again, disregarding all Stan- 
ley's warnings of the result. At last, after much seeming 
reluctance, the white man complied with his demand, and 
struck the gong. Instantly the armed men seemed to have 
sprung from the ground, shouting their war-whoops into the 
very ears of the astonished visitors. From the ^n Avant, the 
tent, the gorge behind the camp, from under the mats in the 
huts, from all their hiding-places, the soldiers of Stanley's ex- 
pedition, who had been waiting this very signal, sprang out, 
yelling at the top of their lungs. *'Every native present, Avould-* 
be friend and would-be foe, lost his senses completely." Stan- 
ley devoted himself to re-assuring Ngalyema ; Bula Matari was 
his brother, and would protect him; he must not fear, etc., 
etc. 

When the camp was almost emptied of the visitors, silence 
was commanded, and the apparently frenzied and blood- 
thirsty savage warriors, at the word of command, fell into line 
and stood like so many bronze statues. Ngalyema allowed 
his hands to fall by his side in mute surprise at this transforma- 
tion scene; Stanley asked him with a re-assuring smile, what 
he thought of the white man's fetish, and inquired if he should 
39 



612 THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 

strike it again. The offer was declined, and Stanley quietly 
dismissed his soldiers. 

Before evening, Ngalyema returned to Kintamo, much wiser 
than when he came ; the joke was so thoroughly appreciated 
by the natives that all along the road gave their adhesion to 
the wish of another chief that the white men should settle 
near Kintamo. 




A Trading Canoe on the Congo. 

The new station was finally placed six hundred feet from 
the village of Kintamo, and named in honor of the royal 
founder of the International Association of the Congo, Leop- 
oldville. Work was begun December 1 ; and late in Febru- 
ary a good-sized house for the use of the Europeans was com- 
pleted, while gardening and other improvements progress- 
ed favorably. Ngalyema had been put through a course of 
training, which had not given much indication of being suc- 
cessful; but finally, early in April, he consented to make 
** blood-brotherhood" with Stanley; and the expedition was 
safe from further fears of his treachery. 

April 19, the first Upper Congo Expedition was embarked, 
consisting of four white men and forty-nine colored men. As- 
cending the Kwa, on the 26th of Maj^ they entered what Stan- 
ley supposed must be a lake or perhaps a wide marsh. As they 
advanced, ho became more certain that it was a lake; and the 
next day proceeded to skirt its shores. The circumnavigation 
was completed on the 31st, and the Lake named for the king 



THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 613 

of the Belgians, Lake Leopold 11. June 12, the party again 
arrived at Leopoldville, the leader almost unconscious from 
fever. 

From this point Stanley decided to return to Yivi, where 
he arrived July 8, 1882. Here he found Dr. Peschuel-Loesch, 
who had been commissioned commander of the Expedition 
du Haul Congo in case Stanley should be disabled by accident 
or serious illness. The chief at once embraced the opportu- 
nity which thus offered itself, being utterly worn out by illness, 
and embarked on a steamer to Loanda, where he waited until 
August 17 for the Portuguese mail steamer. He reached Lis- 
bon September 3, 1882. 

What was the news that Stanley bore back to the Interna- 
tional Association of the Congo? They had decided that three 
stations should be established; he had constructed five. A 
steamer and sailing boat had been launched on the Upper 
Congo, while another steamer and a lighter maintained com- 
munications between the second and third stations. A wagon- 
road had been made between Vivi and Isangila, and between 
Manyanga and Stanley Pool, stretches of the river where rap- 
ids and cataracts rendered it impassable. The expedition had 
reached the mouth of the Kwa, four hundred and forty miles 
from the sea. The first phase of the mission had been emi- 
nently successful. 

And yet, Stanley told them, the Congo basin was not worth 
a two-shilling piece in the condition in which it then was. Al- 
though the natives were friendly as a rule, and more than willing 
to trade, permanent rights must be secured, to insure permanent 
commerce. It would require the expenditure of an immense 
sum of money, for a vast force of men would . be necessary. 
The Comite declared that money should be no consideration ; 
all that was needed should be forthcoming, if Stanley would 
only undertake to complete what had been so well begun. 

He accordingly returned to Africa, sailing direct for the 
mouth of the Congo, where he arrived December 14. He found 
the various stations in a very bad condition. Dr. Peschuel- 
Loesch had been gone four weeks, leaving no one at the head 
of affairs; and things being thus left to run themselves, had 
not done very well. Others in command had deserted their 
posts; and there had been some trouble with the natives. 

He at once sent a trusty subordinate to make the necessary 
treaties for the extension of the Association's work with the 
principal chiefs along the river; and proceeded himself to 
Leopoldville, where the most distressing state of affairs ap- 



614 THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 

peared to exist. He found it grass-grown, as if the men there had 
been sleeping during the whole period of his absence ; but af- 
ter a little determined work on his part, the men were aroused 
to new energy, and the place speedily assumed a more life-like 
appearance ; while the troubles with the natives were patched 
up. Stanley then set out to ascend the river still farther, for 
the establishment of new stations, over which the blue flag 
with its single golden star, the flag of the Association, should 
wave. Early in September, 1883, the vessels of the expedition 
were, for the first time, actually fired upon by the natives ; the 
news was so astonishing that Stanley could hardly credit the 
fact ; for he knew that the natives were on terms of friendly 
intimacy with every one at Bolobo, the station which they had 
attacked. On his way to the relief of the station, however, 
his own force was fired upon ; but fortunately no one was kill- 
ed, and but one man hurt. The war had begun August 29 ; 
peace was proclaimed September 13, the vigorous and deter- 
mined measures of Stanley, and the marksmanship of his men, 
making the Wyanzi glad to sue for peace. A Krupp gun had 
been sent for, but did not arrive until after peace was ar- 
ranged. The Wyanzi were at first inclined to doubt that this 
was really a gun — no trigger, no stock, no ramrod ; and what 
was the use of the wheels? A couple of shots, however, which 
were fired into the river, and raised a great column of water, 
convinced them that the white men's big gun was not a thing 
to be trifled with. 

September 29, Stanley . again arrived at Equator Station, 
after an absence of one hundred days. He found that the 
two young lieutenants left in charge had occupied their time 
in fitting up their quarters with such taste as might be dis- 
played in the materials at their command. This station is 
situated seven hundred and fifty miles from the sea, and f our 
hundred and twelve miles above Leopoldville. But even this 
was not to be the limits of the settlements! Stanley, in accord- 
ance with his instructions, must ascend the river a distance of 
six hundred miles from this point, and establish a station at 
Stanley Falls — the last on the line of the mighty stream. 

As they ascended the river, they came upon a fresh out- 
break of that ''open sore of the world." Where Stanley re- 
membered to have seen, in 1877, populous towns and districts, 
were blackened ruins. As they went on, they reached the 
camp of the Arabs who were the cause of this, and for some 
time Stanley debated Avith himself what he should do. Fi- 
nally he decided that without a commission, he had no right to 



THE CONGO FKEE STATE AKD RECENT EXPLORATIONS. (Jlj 

interfere; and such interference might re-act upon the work 
which he had undertaken to do. He therefore visited the 
Arabs in their camp. Two thousand three hundred slaves 
were in their hands ; and this was the fifth expedition from 
Nyangwe to this country. The white man estimated that for 
each of the women and children in the hands of these hunters 
(there was not a single full-grown man among the slaves) 
more than fifty persons must have perished, killed in the at- 
tack, or driven out wounded from their burning homes to die 
in the forest. Of these two thousand three hundred, more 
than half would probably die before reaching the coast ; the 
perils of the river, the hardships of their life, and disease, 
chiefly small-pox, being the causes which most frequently op- 
erate to decimate the slaves and their masters. Thus for each 
slave that the Arabs would carry to market, a hundred souls 
would have perished. He adds that if the average quantity 
of blood be estimated at three quarts for each person, then 
the Arab merchant to whom this slave-hunting caravan be- 
longed had, on this campaign of murder, caused to be shed 
sufiicient b^ood " to fill a tank measurement of four hundred 
and sixty cubic feet, quite large enough to have drowned him 
and all his kin ! " 

Leaving this country of sorrow as soon as they could get 
away, they reached Stanley Falls early in December, and at 
once set about the work of building the station. A space was 
cleared for it, and the chief's house begun; and then, Decem- 
ber 10, Stanley once more turned his face westward. 

When he reached Equator Station on his return, he found 
the chief, Lieut. Vangele, had been besought to sell some of 
his men to the followers of an old Bakuti chief who had just 
died. The good discipline of the station, and the strict obe- 
dience of his fifty men, caused the natives to think that they 
must be slaves. The lieutenant was curious to know why 
they wanted the men, and learned that it was to celebrate the 
obsequies of their chief suitably. According to the custom 
of their tribe, slaves had to be massacred at his funeral, or 
he would be unattended in the spirit-world. They preferred 
to buy slaves for the purpose, rather than kill their own. Of 
course the proposal was rejected with horror, and the garrison 
chased the Bakuti with sticks off the precincts of the station. 

Owing to the hard-heartedness of Lieut. Vangele, the 
mourning relatives were able to procure but fourteen slaves 
for the purpose; but they heaped coals of fire upon the heads 
of the white men by inviting them to the execution. 



THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 617 

This was managed in a curious way. The doomed men were 
kneeling with their arms bound behind them in the neighbor- 
hood of a tall young tree, near the top of which the end of 
a rope had been lashed. A number of men laid hold upon 
the cord and hauled it until the upper part of the tree was 
bent like a bow. One of the captives was selected, and the 
dangling end of the rope was fastened around his neck: the 
tree sprang several inches higher, drawing the man's form up, 
straining the neck, and almost lifting the body from the 
ground. The executioner then advanced with his short broad- 
bladedfalchion, and carefully measuring his distance, severed the 
head from the body at one blow. It was whipped up into the 
air by the spring of the released tree and sent bounding sev- 
eral yards away. The remaining captives were thus sacrificed 
one after another. The heads were boiled until the flesh came 
off, and the skulls were then used to decorate the grave of the 
chief. The bodies were dragged away and thrown into the 
river; the soil saturated with the blood was gathered up and 
buried with the body of the chief. 

Returning to the coast, Stanley learned that Gordon was 
to be sent to take charge of the matter; and himself returned 
to Europe. He arrived at Plymouth in July, 1884; and early 
in August presented his report of what had been done, to 
the king of the Belgians. 

The Association was now in the possession of treaties with 
over four hundred and fifty independent African chiefs ; what 
was to be done next? Very shortly before the time that 
Stanley returned to Europe, the British and Portuguese gov- 
ernments had concluded negotiations, and Great Britain had 
recognized the western coast of Africa, between south latitude 
five degrees twelve minutes and five degrees eighteen min- 
utes, as Portuguese territory. It was expressly stipulated, 
however, that this treaty was not to come into operation until 
it had been accepted by other powers. The European pow- 
ers, particularly France and Germany, at once protested 
against it ; but the most signal and effective protest came from 
the United States. The treaty, if recognized, would have cut 
off the Association's territory from the sea; and England and 
Portugal reasoned that the chiefs had no right to make 
treaties by which a portion of their lands or of their sover- 
eign power was ceded to an association of individuals. April 
10, 1884, the United States Senate passed a resolution author- 
izing the President to recognize the International African As- 
sociation as a governing power on the Congo Eiver; and the 



618 THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 

following of this example by the European powers has affirm- 
ed and secured the place of the Association among the sover- 
eign states. 




Grave of a Chief Decorated with Skulls of Human Victims. 

Much diplomatic intercourse resulted in the calling of the 
Berlin Conference, which met November 15, 1884. To this 



THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 619 

conference the following governments sent representatives: 
The United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Austria, 
Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Rus- 
sia, Sweden and Norway, and Turkey. This conference con- 
cluded its work February 26. Among the most important of 
the minor results was the largely increasing domains of France 
and Portugal in Africa; but even this sinks into insignifi- 
cance beside the fact that the Congo Free State was recog- 
nized as a friendly power by the great governments of the 
world. 

Having thus traced the history of the Congo Free State 
from the time that the idea of establishing trading stations 
along the Congo was first formed by King Leopold 11. , we 
turn from its after history, which contains nothing of intense 
interest — the happiest nations have no history — to efforts at 
exploring other portions of Africa ; efforts so nearly contem- 
poraneous with Stanley's work upon the Congo that they 
may well be treated in the same chapter. 

In connection with the exploration and settlement of the 
valley of the Congo, we should consider the similar efforts 
made, about the same time, in other parts of the country. 
These were mainly in the line of explorations for the sake of 
geographical knowledge, although the men who made them 
were not at all averse to a little adventure as hunters. Mr. 
Stanley's work is crowded so full of more important particu- 
lars that he rarely pauses to detail a hunting adventure ; and 
still more seldom have we had space to notice such. 

Mr. Walter Montague Kerr, a civil engineer and a member 
of the Royal Geographical Society, made a trip northward 
from Cape Town to the Zambesi River, and thence to the 
shores of Lake Nyassa, unattended by any white companion. 
The first part of his journey was made in an ox-wagon; but 
the tsetse killed his oxen, and the remainder of the trip was 
made mainly on foot. Mr. Kerr, however, takes pains to illus- 
trate a mode of crossing rivers, which, it is safe to say, is not 
frequently witnessed in other parts of the globe. 

During the first part of his trip we need scarcely follow him; 
for enough has been said about that part of the continent in the 
chapters devoted to Dr. Holub and to Livingstone the Mis- 
i^ionary. He arrived at Tette the latter part of August, 1884, 
and being provided with a letter of introduction from the Por- 
tuguese consul at the Diamond Fields, was cordially received. 

After eight da3's' stay here, he left for the north, with a con- 
voy consisting of a few Maravi and a larger number of Lan- 



THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 621 



deens or Zulus. The Landeens threatened to desert after they 
had gone a short distance, and Kerr found that the secret of 
their dissatisfaction was that they had been pressed into his 
service by the strong arm of authority, and that they had been 
paid only half the amount of cloth which they had been prom- 
ised. Paying each man the balance that was due him, the 
Englishman persuaded them to follow him still further; but 
all his arguments could not induce them to march in the day- 
time; it was so hot they said, and water was so scarce, that 
the marches must be made between heats. It was some time 
before he discovered the real reason for their wish to proceed 
in darkness : 




Another Mode of River-Crossing. 

** Emerging from the thicker bush, the party now entered a 
sun-parched forest in which large sycamore trees were scatter- 
ed, and where prairie fires had swept away with an irresistible 
strength the thick undergrowth of rank grass. Hardly had 
we entered the forest when, quick as lightning, one of theLan- 
deen, who was ahead, turned round and caught me by the 
shoulders, pressing me to the ground as he uttered, in an ex- 
cited undertone : 

" ' Ahantu! AhantuP 

" The word was spoken with great emphasis. What could 
be the matter? What was going to happen? Where, in the 
devil's name, was that loiterer Misiri? I could not speak. 



THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 623 

'*A mysterious performance then took place. The Landeen 
hastily looked to their flint-locks, and taking off all the things 
they carried, laid them down close to the tree beside which I 
had been deposited. One comfort I certainly had. That was 
the trusty * Express,' now my only reliable companion. Abso- 
lute ignorance of the circumstances was maddening. I was 
determined in my wish to get up ; but no sooner did I rise to 
my feet than the Landeen, w^ho were quivering with nervous 
excitement, and anxiously looking ahead, pressed me down 
with all sorts of signs, at the same time repeating impetuous- 
ly and earnestly the mysterious warning, ' Abantu,' 

" One of the Landeen turned back with a rush, vanishing 
like a swarthy spirit into the gloom of the forest. Those 
who remained were full of apprehension. When the rest of 
the party came up they immediately put down their loads and 
disappeared in the forest. More and more I wondered what 
devilish thing was about to happen. Was I to be offered up 
as a sacrifice to some wild fetish as a new eatable, or what? 

**Misiri at last arrived — he was always last. Comprehend- 
ing the situation immediately, he told me that a camp of Ma- 
kanga was ahead. I responded by saying that I would go with 
the Landeen to them. On our hands and knees we slowly and 
stealthily stalked through the forest, beneath the glimmering 
light of the moon, which now and then cast our shadows clear 
upon the blackened, fire-baked earth. 

**For some time nothing especial could be distinguished. 
But at length the ruddy reflection of rising flames dancing 
amid the forest trees could be discerned, and showing the 
trunk of one of the monarchs of the wood which had fallen. 
What the Landeen meant to do when the object of our cun- 
ning stalk had been reached, I could not conjecture. My mind 
was busy with thoughts that at this juncture some of the party 
which had lingered far in the rear would inevitably pass the 
man whom I had left with orders to stop them. Should that 
happen, and if they innocently made the slightest noise they 
would soon attract the attention of the wild Makanga. 

*' Nearer and nearer we drew, until we could see the fires 
blazing. For me the scene was one of the most intense excite- 
ment. I could perceive the bronze figures of numerous men 
stark and clear in the flickering light of the merry flames. 
Some of the men were eating, others were grouped indiffer- 
ently about. 

'* No sooner did the Landeen observe the position of af- 
fairs than they turned round and beat a rapid retreat. Away 



THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 625 

we Sped at a good pace farther toward the east. Now I could 
understand why the Landeen were averse to day traveling 
in this country — there was something else besides the water 
difficulty and the heat." 

But the Landeen and Maravi both proved faithless ; and 
Kerr was left alone in the midst of savages. The defection of 
the Maravi was especially serious, for he depended upon them 
as interpreters; and was unable to make himself understood. 
However, at the village Chikuse he had the good fortune to 
meet with a Portuguese elephant hunter, da Costa; by whose 
means he was soon supplied with the necessary attendants for 
his journey to Lake Nyassa. 

It was his wish to visit the missionary station of Livingsto- 
nia, elsewhere in this volume referred to as one of those which 
were intended as a monument to the memory of Livingstone. 
His guides led him to the shores of Nyassa. 

** The white man has seen the lake," they said; '* we said 
we would show him Nyassa. He has seen it. Now we will re- 
turn." 

It required not a little address to break the resolution thus 
announced; but finally Kerr persuaded them to conduct him 
to the white man's town. It was somewhat disconcerting to 
learn that the natives of that region knew nothing of the 
place; but guided mainly by his chart and compass, he made 
his way toward Livingstonia. 

What was his disappointment to find that, in the interval, 
since he had set out from the Cape, when it was still in exist- 
ence, it had now been abandoned ! *' Deserted houses appear- 
ed on every side. A few sad-looking tombstones half buried 
by rank vegetation added to the gloom of the view, the long 
creepers coiling and drooping to emphasize the sorrow. Na- 
ture, mankind's only true friend, never forgets. The vicissi- 
tudes I had passed through of late had certainly been many 
and varied ; but this last unlooked-for experience put every 
former affliction entirely in the shade." 

His stock of cloth and beads was so nearly exhausted that it 
was a question what he should do next. While he was still 
wrestling with this problem, and every night left him uncer- 
tain as to what the morrow should bring forth, he was aroused 
one night by one of his men, who vehemently insisted that the 
" white man's light" was approaching on the lake. Eushing 
out of the house which he had appropriated to his own use, he 
saw a tiny gleam, like a star, through the distance. It drew 
nearer, it grew larger. 



THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 627 

** It did not take long to set fire to heaps of the dry grass 
which lay along the verge of the beach, and soon a blazing 
bonfire was sending its ruddy rays far across the darkness 
of the slumbering lake. My sensations as I watched the shift- 
ing light are now an indescribable memory. Joyful indeed was 
it to see the bows of a small steamer emerging slowly and cau- 
tiously from the gloom. Even at this moment of happy ex- 
pectation doubts arose. Perhaps she had only come for 
anchorage, and might leave ere day-break; so, with all the 
energy I could muster for a last effort, I shouted ' Steamer 
ahoy!'" 

It was a steamer belonging to the African Lakes Company, 
and was taking supplies to Bankawe, to which the missionaries, 
Kerr now found, had been removed from Livingstonia. It 
had stopped at Livingstonia, the supply of wood having run 
short. The rescuing party included Lieut. Giraud, who had 
been sent out by the French government to explore the coun- 
try south of Lake Bangweolo. He had been deserted by all 
but six of his nien, and the. deserters had carried with them 
his guns and stores. He had made his way to the northern 
end of Lake Nyassa, and there embarked on the steamer which 
rescued Kerr. 

The steamer took them as far as Blantyre, that station on 
the Shire which, like Livingstonia, was founded as a monu- 
ment to Livingstone, and which was named after his birth- 
place. Here arose the question what route should the two 
travelers take to the coast? They had determined to unite 
their forces, and make the journey together. Two routes 
:awaited their choice : one by the river, the other an overland 
march, fifteen days long. That by water was the more dan- 
gerous, since the natives were at war with the Portuguese; 
but the new-made friends decided to adopt it in spite of per- 
ils. 

At a village a short distance down the Shire River, Mr. Mil- 
ler, an employe of the African Lakes Company, joined their 
party, and an additional boat was procured for the expedition. 
The banks of the river were full of game, elephants were 
sighted in large numbers, and one of them killed, much to 
Kerr's surprise, as his bullets he had considered were too light 
for the purpose. The very day that this piece of good luck 
occurred, and shortly after the tusks and trunk of the elephant 
had been secured, they passed a herd of hippopotami. A crash- 
ing noise was heard among the reeds which fringed the river's 
banks, and at the same moment there came plunging with fu- 
40 



THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 629 

rious force one of the biggest of the mighty monsters of the 
river. The boys, who were poling with long bamboo rods, 
would have stopped the boat, but the depth of water prevent- 
ed. As Kerr fired, the hippo nearly struck the bow. Then 
quick as lightning he dived, the canoe nearly passing over 
him. Little more than a second elapsed before he was up 
again, this time, alongside, erecting his ugly head high out of 
the water. Another shot, with better direction than the first, 
was followed by a tremendous splashing of water, which froth- 
ed and seethed as though it were in a boiling caldron, and 
amid the trembling confusion they saw the last of the formid- 
able brute. 

Exchanging stories of their hunting experiences when the 
men of the two canoes met that night, Kerr learned that Gir- 
aud had bagged a fine hippopotamus and a monster crocodile. 

Their descent of the Shire was not to be wholly peaceful. The 
varying rumors of war agreed in one thing ; that the Portuguese 
were substantially the victors thus far ; but the very fact that 
the white travelers might be taken for Portuguese, on whom the 
exasperated natives might wreak their vengeance, was far from 
re-assuring. They found themselves first in the midst of the 
Portuguese, however; but did not see their way clear to es- 
caping those farther down the river. 

It must be remembered that what was nominally a Portuguese 
force was really composed either of half-breeds or blacks. In 
one large camp, he saw but one white man; the commander, 
a portly half-caste, was magnificently arrayed in a suit of pa- 
jamas. 

It was resolved that they should ask for a hostage, as a guar- 
antee that they would be secure at least from Portuguese at- 
tacks during their journey; and the demand was readily grant- 
ed. Very much to the dis'inay of the white men, however, 
they found that their own followers regarded the hostage as a 
victim which was to be sacrificed ; and they had not a little 
difficulty in protecting him from open violence. 

As they moved down the winding river they saw that it 
washed deserted shores, upon which the most common sights 
were the fields of battle that had been waged and won. Stark 
scenes of devastation extended from the river's brink ; slavery 
and war had combined to work desolation. At last Shupanga 
was reached; the dangers of their journey were over, and the 
voyage to the sea was short and prosperous. Kerr arrived in 
England in the summer of 18^'5, having carefully surveyed his 
entire route from Port Elizabeth, northward through Cape 



G30 THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 

Colony, across the southern end of Orange Free State, thence 
generally northward through the country where Livingstone's 
early work in Africa was done, and northeast to the Zambesi 
at Tette. Thence we trace his path to the southern shores of 
Nyassa, down the Shire and the Zambesi, to the sea. While 
this was not an unknown country, it had not been so carefully 
surveyed throughout its whole extent as the work was done 
by him. 

We have next to note the travels of Mr. Joseph Thomson, an- 
other member of the Royal Geographical Society, and commis- 
] sioned by that association to explore the country extending 
northwest from Mount Kilimanjaro. Mr. Thomson was not 
without experience in the line of African exploration; for al- 
though but twenty-six years of age, he had already made two 
other trips, one of them being the Eoyal Greographical Socie- 
ty's expedition to the lakes of Central Africa, 1878-80, of 
which we can here make nothing more than a brief mention. 

The Masai country had been partially explored by the early 
Portuguese missionaries, but the results of their explorations 
were of course lost to the world. In 1842-51, Dr. Krapf and 
his colleague Rebman made several efforts to explore the coun- 
try, with a view to establishing mission stations there; but 
were obliged to give it up. Rebman discovered Kilimanjaro in 
1848 ; the next year Krapf discovered Mount Kenia. Hitherto, 
there had been vague theories about snow-clad mountains in 
this part of Africa ; it was now for the first time demonstrated 
that there are such peaks there. 

A map with some approach to scientific accuracy was first 
made by Von der Decken and Thornton, who visited this re- 
gion in 1862. The next year, on a second expedition, points 
were still more accurately defined ; but the surveyors did not 
penetrate far beyond Kilimanjaro. 

The missionary New and the naturalist Hildebrand also 
made tours thither, but failed to add much to the stock of 
geographical knowledge. The African Committee of the Royal 
Geographical Society considered the question, in 1877, of 
sending a commission to explore the country; but finally de- 
cided that the risks were too great, and the scheme too costly, 
to justify them in attempting to enter the country of the ter- 
rible Masai. Accordingly they decided to send an expedition,- 
under the leadership of Keith Johnston, to Nyassa and the 
neighboring lakes. Johnston died almost at the very com- 
mencement of his journey; leaving the work to his second in 
command, young Thomson. 



1:HE CONGO FKEE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 631 

The year after Thomson returned from his exploration of 
Nyassa, he was employed by the sultan of Zanzibar to examine 
the so-called coal-basin of the Rovuma. He says: " As I fail- 
ed either to find or to make that valuable mineral, my distin- 
guished employer and I parted with mutual satisfaction, the 
sultan believing that I had found coal but for reasons of my 
own kept back my knowledge ; while I was indignant at the 
way in which my report was received." 

Returning home, he was requested by the Society to furnish 
a report upon the practicabilty of sending a caravan through 
the Masai country; and was afterwards made the leader of 
an expedition which was to ascertain if a direct and practica- 
ble route for European travelers exists through the Masai 
country from any one of the East Africa^ ports to Victoria 
Nyanza, and to examine Mount Kenia, and collect data for a 
reliable map of the region. Three thousand pounds was the 
sum allotted for this purpose. 

Thomson had determined that he would take no white man 
with him; but finally decided to take one, a Maltese sailor 
named Martin. Securing some of the men who had accom- 
panied him on his first expedition, and also some who had 
been with Stanley upon his journey through the continent, he 
left Zanzibar February 1, 1883, and aftex. a tempestuous voy- 
age reached Mombasa, which was to be their starting-point for 
the interior. This place has been better known of late years 
by reason of the colony of freed slaves which has been estab- 
lished here, called Frere Town, in honor of Sir Bartle Frere, 
and presided over by agents of the Church Missionary So- 
ciety. 

Thomson found that it would be impossible to find men here 
to act as his porters, and was obliged to return to Zanzibar to 
complete his expedition. It was almost the middle of March 
before they left Mombasa for the interior. It would require 
too much space to enumerate the various adventures which be- 
fell him on his journey; we must confine ourselves to those 
which are distinctive, letting it be taken for granted that he 
had difiiculty with his men, that the road was difiicult, that 
the food to be obtained was poor. Only the ordinary difficul- 
ties of 'African travel had beset them when they first caught 
sight of Kilimanjaro : 

" As we emerge from the shady grove we stand entranced 
by a lovely sight that unexpectedly breaks upon our view. For 
many days we have been at the base of Kilimanjaro, and yet 
not a glimpse has rewarded our frequent attempts to view its 



- :>iiiii|liM^^^^^^^^^^ 




the: CONGO FREE ST4TE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 633 

cloud-piercing heights. * * There is the grand dome or crater of 
Kibo with its snow-cap glancing and scintillating like burnish- 
ed silver in the rays of the afternoon sun; and there, on its 
eastern flank, as a striking contrast, rise the jagged outlines of the 
craggy peak of Kimawenzi. What words can adequately de- 
scribe this glimpse of majestic grandeur and godlike repose? We 
can only stand speechless withf eelings of awe. But our oppor- 
tunity is brief. The veil has merely been temporarily lifted, and 
now huge, fleecy- white cumulus-clouds roll and tumble along the 
side of the great mountain till only the black pinnacle and 
the glittering dome are seen projected against the pure azure, 
and hanging apparently in mid-heaven, more impressive than 
ever. At last a veil of stratus mysteriously spreads itself out. 
In a few seconds the whole scene has vanished, ' like the base- 
less fabric of a vision, and we find ourselves blankly staring at 
a monotonous expanse of gray." 

They passed many days about the foot of this great moun- 
tain, which the natives reverently style "The House of God ; " 
but at last were able to proceed on their way. A narrative of 
a hunting adventure will not be out of place here. Thomson, 
in the hope of supplying the larder, had gone ahead of the car- 
avan with a single attendant, Songoro, who carried his ammu- 
nition. After a tramp of about two hours, the hunters being 
about a hundred yards ahead of the caravan, they suddenly 
heard the report of two guns. A rhinoceros had been asleep 
in the grass, but had not awakened until after most of the car- 
avan had passed ; it was preparing to charge the caravan, 
when the shots were fired. These turned its course, and it 
passed the head of the caravan. Again it turned with defiant at- 
titude, bent on an attack. 

"This was the position of affairs when I seized my Express 
and hurried back. For some time I was unable to fire, as the 
animal stood between me and the men. But thinking^appar- 
ently that discretion was the better part of valor, it turned tail 
upon the caravan, and came at a steady trot toward me. Drop- 
ping on my knee, to take a steadier aim, I waited my time. 
The whole caravan were yelling and shouting, which so distract- 
ed its attention that it did not notice me before it was in the tall 
grass. When within thirty yards it swerved a little, and I 
took advantage of the opportunity to fire. The bullet struck 
close to the spine, and was just sufiici-nt to paral3^ze it a little 
without breaking it. The great brute sauk partially on the 
ground ; but on my giving it the contents of the second barrel 
it sighted me, and then, pulling itself together, it came crash- 




I 



^^"^imm 






THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 635 

ing toward me in the most precipitate manner. On looking 
around for Songoro, I found that worthy showing his heels in 
capital style, leaving me with empty rifle. There was no hope 
of evading the attack, loa,ded as I was with heavy boots, and 
in tall grass, and face it I must. In my strongest language I 
shouted out to Songoro to bring my ammunition, and ran after 
him as fast as I could. The good fellow, remembering my 
plight, stopped at once, and came running with a cartridge in 
his hand. I seized it in feverish haste, and turned to face the 
enemy, which was almost upon me. I fumbled most clumsily 
at the lock, and it seemed an age before the cartridge was 
rammed home and the rifle at my shoulder. As I raised it the 
rhino would be little more than five yards off. The very im- 
minence of my danger pulled my wits together, and made me 
marvelously cool and collected. I did not feel the slightest 
nervous tremor. I was even aware that the cries of the men 
had ceased, as they stood motionless, waiting to see me hoist- 
ed. That, however, was not to be, for just in the nick of time 
I made a dash sideways. As my assailant passed, I delivered 
the contents of my rifle in his shoulder, and once more I stood 
unarmed. That bullet was sufficient to prevent the rhinoceros 
from turning around; but catching sight of Songoro careering 
in his white kanzu in front, it continued after him. Soon, 
however, it began to show signs of exhaustion, and as it was 
clear that Songoro was equal to the occasion, we all hurrahed 
and cheered on the hunted and the hunter. A roar of laugh- 
ter burst forth as Songoro, thinking that the brute was com- 
ing rather too close, turned suddenly round and fired off a tiny 
revolver. This was renewed on seeing the rhinoceros give up 
the chase and turn away in another direction. Its trot pres- 
ently turned into a walk, and then the entire caravan became 
inspired with a noble ardor for the chase. The poor brute 
was soon surrounded by a couple of hundred men, who bewil- 
dered it with a continuous fusilade, though hardly a shot 
struck. Thus baited by its foes, it scattered them several 
times by charging, but finally it succumbed, through the loss of 
blood consequent on my balls. The horns proved to be the 
largest I ever shot, the front one being beautifully curved and 
twenty-seven inches long." 

Thomson escaped much difficulty with the natives by insist- 
ing that he was a great "lybon," or medicine man, referring to 
his blonde hair and fair skin as confirmation of his claim; 
sometimes this assertion worked well; at othertimes it seemed 
likely to get him into trouble. On one occasion, escaping 



636 THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 



from danger by calling attention to these evidences of power, 
it was demanded that so great a Ij^bon should cure the plague 
of which their cattle were dying by hundreds. Nothing 
daunted by the dilemma, the traveler provided them with the 
required cure (?), which he informed them would not take ef- 
fect for ten days after he had proceeded on his journey. At 
the end of the ten days, he did not send back a messenger to 
see if the desired result had been produced. 

The Ururu River, so called from the thunderous noise of its 
waters, was reached, and the country carefully prospected; 
for their road was by no means without danger. The falls of 
this river were visited, and named by the traveler after him- 
self, the Thomson Falls ; and the expedition proceeded on its 
troubled way. 

From this point they went on to 
the base of Mount Kenia; but their 
march for some time past had been 
constantly interrupted by the neces- 
sity of conciliating the war-like and 
unfriendly Masai. The Victoria Ny- 
anza was reached in December, and 
the expedition began to retrace its 
steps. But shortly after turning 
back, another hunting adventure 
befell Thomson, which is worth re- 
cording: 

"The last day of the year, which 
had so far worn a smiling and en- 
couraging face, was fated to be a re- 
markable one. For a time it seem- 
ed as if I had reached the limits of 
my earthly existence as well as that of the year. The agreeable 
and piquant situation happened in this wise. I had resolved to 
shoot something, however tough, to replenish our larder for 
the due celebration of the day. With this object in view I had 
kept ahead of the caravan, accompanied by Brahim. We 
struggled for some three hours through long, unburnt grass, 
and open, scraggy forest, which clothed a rich, rolling coun- 
try. At last we were rewarded by the sight of a couple of 
buffaloes feeding some distance ahead. Gliding up w^arily un- 
til I got within fifty yards, I gave one of them a bullet close to 
the region of the heart. This was not sufficient to bring the 
animal down, and off it lumbered. Following it up, we were 
soon once more at close quarters, with a result that a bullet 




Ear OrnamenU of Married 
Woman. 



THE CONGO FEEE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 637 

from my Express had passed through its shoulder. With the 
obstinacy and tenacity of life characteristic of its kind, how- 
ever, it did not quietly succumb. I next tried it with a fair 
header. This obviously took effect, for after it struggled for- 
ward for some distance it lay down clearly, as I thought, to die. 
]My belief was quite correct, only I should not have disturbed 
its last moments. Concluding, very foolishly, that the buffalo 
was completely hors de combat, and that the game was mine, I, 
with the jaunty air of a conqueror, tucked my rifle under my 
arm, and proceeded to secure my prize. Brahim, with more 
sense, warned me that it wa^ not finished yet. * * * Heed- 
less of the admonition, I obstinately went forward, intending 
to give it its quietus at close quarters. I had got within six 
yards, and yet I remained unnoticed, the head of the buffalo 
being turned slightly from me, and I not making much noise. 
I was not destined to go much further. A step or two more 
and there was a rustling among some dead leaves. Simulta- 
neously the buffalo's head turned in my direction. A fero- 
cious, blood-curdling grunt instantly apprised me of the 
brute's resolution to be avenged. The next moment it was on 
its feet. Unprepared to fire, and completely taken by sur- 
prise, I had no time for thought. Instinctively I turned my 
back upon my infuriated enemy. As far as my recollection 
serves me, I had no feeling of fear while I was running away. 
* * * * I was aware of Brahim tearing away in front of me. 
There was a loud crashing behind me. Then something touch- 
ed me on the thigh, and I was promptly propelled skyward. 

* 'My next recollection was finding myself lying dazed and 
bruised, with some hazy notion that I had better take care ! With 
this indefinite sense of something unusual, I slowly and painfully 
raised my head, and lo ! there was the brutal avenger standing 
three yards off, watching his victim, but apparently disdaining 
to hoist an inert foe. I found I was lying with my head 
towards the buffalo; * * * the electric thought flashed 
through my brain : 'If he comes for me again I am a dead 
man.' It almost seemed as if my thought roused the buffalo 
to action. Seeing signs of life in my hitherto inanimate body, 
he blew a terrible blast through his nostrils and prepared to 
finish me off. Stunned and bruised as I was, I could make no 
fight for life. I simply dropped my head down among the 
grass in the vague hope that it might escape being pounded to a 
jelly. Just at that moment a rifle shot rang through the for- 
est, which caused me to raise my head once more. With glad 
surprise I found the btiffalo's tail presented itself to my con- 



THE GONOO FREE STATE AND RECEXT EXPLORATIONS. 639 

templation. With a terrible effort I pulled myself together 
and staggered away a few steps. As I did so, I happened to 
put my hand down to my thigh, and there I felt something warm 
and wet; exploring further, my fingers found their way into a 
big hole in my thigh. As I made this discovery there was 
quite a volley, and I saw my adversary drop dead." 

Fainting from loss of blood, Thomson occasioned not a little 
uneasiness to his men ; but his weakness was of comparative- 
ly short duration; the wound was not a serious one, being 
more of the nature of a stab than a rent or rupture ; and al- 
though the horn had penetrated nearly six inches into the flesh, 
grazing the bone, the young Scotchman's pure blood and vig- 
orous constitution prevented its being dangerous. 

The return journey was marked by terrible sickness, w^hich 
reduced the traveler almost to a skeleton. For six weeks his 
journal was a blank, the wordlessness telling eloquently of his 
suffering and unconsciousness. 

May 21, 1884, the caravan reached the missionary station 
near Mombasa; from Ndara they went rapidly forward, and 
arrived at Zanzibar shortly afterward; whence the agent of 
the Koyal Geographical Society returned to England via Bom- 
bay. 

A sufiicient number of the points visited by Thomson have 
been named to show what Avas the scope of his journey. His 
contributions to science are represented not only by a care- 
fully prepared map of this region, but also by a geological 
chart of great interest. His volume is further enriched by 
photographs of the people and of portions of their country, 
and by descriptions of the customs and manners of the Masai, 
for which we have no space. 

There is another member of the Royal Geographical Society 
whose name is inseparably connected with the thought of Af- 
rican adventure ; but his travels were in the southern part of 
the continent, and twenty years before Kerr and Thomson. 
He did not penetrate as far north as Kerr and Holub,' turning 
back when he reached the great cataract of the Zambesi, and 
confining his hunting expeditions largely to the Zulu country. 
This was William Charnles Baldwin ; for a few of whose ad- 
ventures in hunting we here make room. 

*' One evening, in the valley of the Tugela, on returning to 
my encampment after a capital day's sport (three hartebeests, 
an eland bull, and buffalo bull), I was leading a fine gray mare, 
packed with the hartebeest skins, when I saw a huge beast be- 
fore me so incased in mud that I at first took it for a rhinoc- 



THE CONGO FREE STATE AND EECENT EXPLORATIONS. 641 

eros. I let go the mare, and ran from behind unperceived 
very near, as it was walking slowly. It proved to be an enor- 
mous old bull buffalo, and the first intimation he got of my 
presence was a bullet in the center of his big ribs. How he 
made the stones clatter and fly as he rushed down the hill! I 
reloaded, went back to the mare (which remained standing 
just where I left her, as all South' African trained shooting- 
horses do for half a day or more, if required), and proceeded 
in the direction my old friend was taking, not much expecting, 
however, to see anything more of him, and had given him up, 
as it was fast getting dark, when I saw the outline of a huge 
beast under a shady thorn-tree, and had not quite made him 
out when he emerged and made for me. I threw a hasty 
glance around for a friendly tree, and then at the chances of 
getting on the mare's back; but that was hopeless, as she was 
loaded with hides; my arm was through the bridle rein, the 
bull mending his pace, and, as I put my gun to my shoulder, 
the mare, alarmed, jerked back, and I fired a snap shot at 
his breast, not turning him in the least. The mare reared per- 
pendicularly and fell backward ; my arm being through the rein, 
I also fell between her legs, and the brute went over us both, 
knocking the skin from the mare's eye with a kick from his 
hind leg, and rattled along. I found him dead in the morning 
not two hundred yards off, my bullet having struck him in the 
center of the chest." . ' 

Several years after the date of this adventure, Baldwin was 
again chased by a buffalo. He tells the story thus concisely: 

"The best of my studs, Ferus, yesterday got desperately 
staked in the breast. ' A wounded buffalo, which I was trying 
to drive toward the wagon-spoor, charged me most savagely, 
and none other but Ferus could have brought me safely out. It 
was a near thing for about one hundred yards, and when she 
was not two yards from my horse's tail, taking advantage of 
an opening in the bush, I wheeled half round in the saddle, and 
gave her a bullet through her right ear and grazed the top of her 
back, without, however, doing her any harm ; but she shortly 
gave up the chase, when I reloaded, dismounted, and shot 
her through the lungs dead. It was among hack-thorns, and 
my clothes were completely torn off my body. We had not a 
bite of anything at all in the wagon, and no near probability 
of getting anything, therefore I was rash, as a buffalo is a 
beast you cannot drive." 

To these two hunting adventures, we add his experience in 
crossing an African river : 



THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 643 

*' The Tugela is one of the most serious obstacles to travel- 
ing, and I have had many adventures on different drifts. I 
was once returning from Overberg with a covered spring-cart 
(which I had made long enough to sleep in), drawn by four, 
six, or eight oxen, with a small troop of horses I had been 
buying. I had fastened eight of the quietest to the wheels, 
four on each side, as it was a very dark, stormy night, with a 
heavy rain, and I feared they might treck back again. The 
rest were grazing near, when those attached to the cart 
got frightened and pulled back, the cart began to move, and 
'this alarmed them more, and with a sudden jerk, they pulled it 
over on the top of themselves broadside, when a frightful scene 
ensued, all pulling different ways, and struggling madly in the 
dark; it was a hazardous thing to go near them. At last, we 
contrived to cut them all adrift, and they galloped off into the 
darkness. We righted the wagon again, but it was broken to 
pieces. At daylight we started in pursuit of the horses, and 
being a wet, cold, very misty morning, we were more than half 
a day in hunting them up; eventually we found them under 
the lee side of a large, overhanging rock. We inspanned and 
reached the Tagela, to find it flooded. Fearful of losing my 
horses altogether if we had another night of it, as there are 
many Bushmen (all horse-stealers) in the neighborhood, I de- 
termined on getting them on the right side of the Tugela, and 
succeeded in swimming them over among the loose oxen in 
safety. The cart was a still more serious business. I had se- 
lected eight of my best water-oxen, and after a long argument 
with my three lads, and hearing what they had to say for and 
against the attempt, the convincing argument at length being 
that if we did not get over, we should have no supper, they 
agreed to make a trial. Acting on their good impulse, I in- 
spanned at once, every spare rheim being knotted together to 
make as long a fore-tow as possible ; and the cart being very 
light, for fear the force of the stream should upset it, I put in 
some very large, heavy stones for ballast, and Matakitakit on 
his hams inside to keep them in their places. I fastened the 
remnant of the sail down fore and aft, having previously lash- 
ed all fast to the axle-tree to prevent everything from going 
asunder; and having taken the precaution to strip, and fasten 
money, promissory notes, etc., round my neck in a small bag, 
I mounted the box, whip in hand. Mick and Inyous took the 
tow, got some twenty yards ahead of the oxen, which were 
standing in the water, as deep as they could get without swim- 
ming. It was pretty good ground going in, when I shouted 
41 



THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 645 

* Treck ! ' and away we went. The stream carried the leaders 
down very fast, and the oxen were gaining on the lads, the 
cart floating beautifully, and I thought all would go well, and 
was chuckling with inward satisfaction. When the front oxen 
had reached the boys, I shouted: 

" * Let go the tow, and get out of the road I' 

" They got confused, stuck fast, and pulled the oxen round 
in the middle of the stream; and just as the leading oxen's 
heads were w^ithin two feet of my knees, sailing down with the 
full force of the current, seeing an upset inevitable, I took a 
header down stream as far as ever I could go, out of harm's 
way, and turned on my back to see the result. The cart had 
disappeared; Mick and Inyous, seated on the backs of two 
middle oxen, were going round in a frightful state of confu- 
sion, and there was not a vestige of Matakitakit, who was 
fastened inside of the cart; and I feared that the cart being 
turned bottom upward, all the heavy stones must be on his 
head. I tried to make up to render assistance, but the stream 
v/as too strong, when, to my intense delight, up came Mataki- 
takit about twenty yards behind. He gave himself a shake and 
a blow or two, and though he had previously declared he could 
not swim a yard, he struck out, Kaffir fashion, as well as any 
of us. The oxen got partly right, and we all got over eventu- 
ally, only one ox being drowned. I lost everything that Avas 
in the gart except my two guns, which I had lashed very se- 
curely to the sides." 

On another occasion, Baldwin found a more dangerous ad- 
versary than the buffaloes had been. In his usual terse and 
nervous style he says : 

" On the Tuesday morning we found a troop of eleven or 
twelve bull elephants in a thick hack-thorn bush, on the banks 
of the river. As they crashed away, I rode hard in their rear, 
shouting lustily, and singled out the largest bull. I rode close 
under his stern, and he cleared a path for me. He turned to 
see who had the audacity to ride so near, for the horse's nose 
touched him, w^hen I gave him a bullet behind his shoulder, 
and cleared out of his path. In reloading I lost him, and, can- 
tering on his spoor, he very nearly caught me, as he had stop- 
ped and turned round just where the path turned sharply and 
suddenly to the right, and I was almost under his very trunk 
ere I saw him. He was lying in wait and made a terrific 
charge, trumpeting furiously; the horse was round like a top, 
and away I went, with both rowels deep in his flanks as I 
threw myself on his neck. It was a very near shave; his 



646 THE COT^GO FREE STATE AKD RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 

trunk was over the horse's hind quarters. I went through 
bush that, in cold blood, I should have pronounced impenetra- 
ble, but did not come off scathless; my poor hands were shock- 
ingly torn, and my trousers from the knee literally in shreds, 
though made of goatskins. After giving the elephant two more 
bullets, I lost him. The dogs were frightened to death, and 
would not leave the horse's heels." 

This adventure in the southern part of Africa recalls a some- 
what similar one of Baker's in the central part of the conti- 
nent. Going out on an elephant hunt, a herd was discovered with 
out much difficulty. The hunters were spied by two bulls, and 
Baker's dusky companions retreated with more speed than 
valor. Baker, although left alone, gave chase, and succeeded 
in shooting one of them in the shoulder. The herd, which had 
been standing irresolute, now turned and came directly to- 
ward their wounded comrade and his rash assailant. Baker 
gave a most unearthly yell, which caused them to swerve from 
their course; and the hunter was safe for the time. The herd 
separated, and Baker chose to follow a group of three. One 
of these, perceiving his presence, turned and charged direct 
upon him; but missing his victim,turned and entered the jungle. 

The natives had now recovered from their first fright, and 
came to their master's assistance. Following the tracks of 
the first elephant, they came upon him suddenly, standing in 
the bush about fifty yards from them. He charged as soon as 
he saw them, and chased Baker for about a hundredand fifty 
yards; the men on foot not attracting his attention as the 
horseman did. He then disappeared in the jungle, and they 
could only trace him by the blood which they saw here and 
there on the trees. For two hours the search continued. Baker 
being joined by two mounted gun-bearers; then the elephant 
dashed from the jungle close upon them screaming with rage, 
and gaining constantly on Baker. The rider urged his horse on- 
ward by spurs, whip and rein ; but the faithful animal was almost 
exhausted. At last, when the furious beast was within ten or 
twelve yards of the horse's tail, with its trunk outstretched as 
though to seize the rider. Baker doubled like a hare before 
the hounds; the ponderous brute dashed still onward up the 
hill and into the jungle which had been its first hiding-place; 
and the hunter was safe. The elephant was found dead 
the next day a few yards from the spot where he had entered 
the wood, but when the men "^^ho had found him returned to 
carry away the spoils of the chase, they discovered that the 
flesh and tusks had been stolen by some enterprising natives. 



THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXPLORATIONS. 647 

Baker was a devoted sportsman ; we shall see how, even 
when engaged in the suppression of the slave trade, the ac- 
credited representative of the khedive, he frequently indulged 
in the pleasures of the chase. Let him recount one <jther of 
his adventures : 

"The whole day passed fruitlessly; I had crept through the 
thickest thorns in vain; having abundance of meat, I had re- 
fused the most tempting shots at buffaloes and large antelopes, 
as I had devoted myself exclusively to lions. I was much dis- 
appointed as the evening had arrived without a shot being 
fired, and as the sun had nearly set, I wandered slowly toward 
home. Passing through alternate open glades of a few yards' 
width, hemmed in on all sides by a thick forest, I was care- 
lessly carrying my rifle on my shoulder, as I pushed my way 
through the opposing thorns, when a sudden roar, just before 
me, at once brought the rifle upon full cock, and I saw a mag- 
nificent lion standing in the middle of the glade, about ten 
yards from me; he had been lying on the ground, and had 
started to his feet upon hearing me approach through the jun- 
gle. For an instant he stood in an attitude of attention, as 
we were hardly visible ; hut at the same moment I took a quick 
but sure shot with the little Fletcher. He gave a convulsive 
bound, but rolled over backward before he could recover him- 
self. I fired the left-hand barrel. It was a glorious sight. I 
had advanced a few steps into the glade, and Hassan had 
quietly handed me a spare rifle, while Taher Noor stood by me 
sword in hand. The lion, in the greatest fury, with his shaggy 
mane bristled in the air, roared with deathlike growls, as open- 
mouthed, he endeavored to charge upon us, but he dragged 
his hind-quarters upon the ground, and I saw immediately 
that the little Fletcher had broken his spine. In his tremen- 
dous exertions to attack, he rolled over and over, gnashing his 
horrible jaws, and tearing holes in the sandy ground at each 
blow of his tremendous paws, that would have crushed a man's 
skull like an egg-shell. Seeing that he was hors de combat^ I 
took it coolly, as it was already dusk, and the lion having 
rolled into a dark and thick bush, I thought it would be advis- 
able to defer the final attack, as he would be dead before 
morning." 

In this expectation, however. Baker was mistaken; he re- 
turned with a number of men the next morning, and discover- 
ed the lion after some searching among the bushes, which were 
all nearly alike. The deep short roars of the wounded animal 
at last pointed out his hiding-place, and presently they saw a 



THE CONGO FREE STATE AND RECENT EXlPLORATIONS. 649 

grand picture. His majestic head and flashing hazel eyes con- 
fronted them; for although helpless, he was game to the last. 
The camel bolted, Baker's horse swerved, but was soon con- 
trolled, and the hunter rode to within twenty paces of the lion. 
The low growls of the beast frightened the horse, but his 
rider's voice encouraged him. The horse snorted and stared 
fixedly, both animals kept their eyes fixed on each other; the 
hunter dropped his reins, raised his gun, and deliberately fired, 
putting an end to the wounded lion's sufferings. It required 
eight men to raise the carcass to the back of the kneeling cam- 
el and secure it there. The camp was not again troubled with 
lions, although in several instances they had previously at- 
tempted to enter the enclosure. 

Story after story might thus be recounted, of strange and 
hair-breadth escapes in African jungles and plains, from the 
varied and terrible animals that are native there ; but it is time 
that we turn to the narrative of graver deeds ; the story of 
men who had for their object something more than sport or 
the procuring of food. 








A Ducking, 



CHAPTER XXII. 



THE SOUDAJf AKI) THE SLAVE TRADE. 

lEFORE taking up the subject of Emin Pasha, and the ex- 
pedition designed for his relief, it is necessary for us to 
consider the country to which he was sent as ruler, the 
Soudan, and its relations to the slave-trade in particular. 
In the chapters on the life of Livingstone we have seen 
something of the slave-trade as it is carried on farther south; 
and Livingstone's travels were in the heart of the southern 
district of the sources whence slaves are supplied for the 
market. The routes by which the slaves, captured or pur- 
chased from their captors in Central Africa, are brought to 
the coast, may be roughly classed under these heads : 1st, The 
most frequently traveled routes of distribution are across the 
Sahara to the Barbary States. 2nd, A few are taken westward 
to settlements on the coast of Lower Guinea, to Angola and 
Damara-land. 3rd, The slavers with whom Livingstone met 
took their human wares to the eastern coast, either to the Por- 
tuguese settlements, whence they were sent to Mauritius and 
Reunion, or to the Arab towns further north, whence they 
were sent to various points in Arabia and Persia. 4th, A 
number of distinct routes lead into Egypt and Abyssinia; in 
some cases, these dealers cross to Arabia; in others, they are 
able to dispose of their merchandise in Egypt itself. 

It is with the traffic conducted along the last-named routes 
that we have to deal in the present chapter; because it is there 
that the most resolute and successful efforts have been made 
to suppress it. As long as Mohammedanism continues to be the 
State religion in Barbary, it will probably be impossible to sup- 
press the slave-trade there ; the Portuguese settlements of the 
east coast are probably doomed to fall under the dominion of 
England before many years, as the Dutch settlements at the 
Cape have long since done; and then, that branch of the com- 

(>50 



tHE SOUDAN AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 



651 



merce will be stopped, if not before. Egypt has been so large- 
ly dependent upon European powers that in her case it has 
been possible for them to demand that she should stop this 
traffic ; and she has proved so treacherous that the demand 
has not yet been enforced. 




A few words about the Egyptian Soudan will not be out of 
place. It lies between the Red Sea on the east and the west- 
ern boundary of Darf our on the west ; its length is about one 
thousand six hundred miles, its breadth about one thousand 
three hundred. Egypt first took possession of it in the year 
1819, when Ismail, the son of Mehamet Ali, was sent by his 
father to establish an Egyptian government at Khartoom. 
From the first, the Soudan has been an exceedingly difficult 
land to maintain. Ismail and his army managed to establish 
themselves ; but they had net been long in possession before 



65^ THE SOUDAK AND THE SLAVE TRADfi. 

the blacks had their first rising. They did not want the Egyp- 
tians, either then or afterward. One of the native rulers in- 
vited Ismail and his friends to dine with him. He drugged the 
wine which he gave them to drink ; and when they were over- 
come by its effects, he set fire to the house in which they were 
feasting, and so burned them to death. Of course, after that, 
the Soudanese were compelled to submit to Egyptian rule, 
whether they liked it or not. Sennaar and Kordof an were wrest- 
ed from them. 

In the year 1826, there was a governor appointed in the per- 
son of Kurishid Pasha, who ruled over Fashoda for eleven 
years. A rebellion broke out in Kassalo in 1841, at which time 
the Soudan was divided into seven provinces ; and there was 
so much difficulty connected with them that Said Pasha, when 
he visited the Soudan, was very much disposed to give it up al- 
together, but that a strong representation was made to him to 
the effect that if he did this there would be constant warfare 
among the tribes. He therefore appointed a governor; and 
there have been governors of the Soudan ever since. 

There was for some years a gradual pushing southward of 
the Egyptians ; and the country was further opened by adven- 
turous traders, who, for purposes of their own, sought to 
traverse the strange wild region of which almost nothing was 
known. In 1853, Mr. John Petherick, the British consul to 
the Soudan, succeeded, in the interests of trade, in making a 
voyage along the upper waters of the White Nile. He found 
that ivory was plentiful and cheap ; and henceforth consider- 
able trading was carried on. At that time, Egypt's possessions 
on the White Nile only extended a hundred miles south of 
Khartoom ; but since then she has rapidly extended her rule, 
and the last conquest, that of Darfour, added many miles to 
her territory. 

Unfortunately, the European traders did not long content 
themselves with dealing in ivory, for they found that to deal 
in slaves was very much more profitable. In the Bahr Ghazal 
country bands of armed men kept the posts for the traders, so 
that their horrible traffic could be carried on in safety. In the 
year 1860, the world was fully aroused to these matters, and 
the indignant voice of the people became so loud that the Eu- 
ropeans could not for very shame carry on their infamous 
work. So they sold their slave stations to the Arabs, who con- 
trived to keep the peace with the khedive by paying a year- 
ly rental. Of course, the people who were captured and sold 
into slavery were no better off than before, and the thing it- 



THfc SOUDAK AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 



()'5:J 



self was as unrighteous as ever. Indeed, the Arabs were more 
ruthless than the Europeans had been. They were provided 
with arms and ammunition by the Egyptian government and 




Ismail, Ex-Khedive of Egypt. 

the Europeans who had before held the posts, and they stop- 
ed at nothing. They actually trained slaves to catch others for 
them ; and these who had been stolen when they were boys be- 
came adepts in the art of stealing their fellows. The result of 



654 THE SOUDAir ANI) THE SLAVE TRADE. 

all this was to devastate the whole district. Both Speke and 
Schweinfurth have testified to this, but their words need not 
here be quoted. 

The men who were doing so much harm to the country were 
becoming very powerful themselves, on account of their num- 
ber and influence ; and at last the slave-dealers set up a ruler 
of their own, and refused to pay taxes to the Egyptian govern- 
ment. The name of the man who ventured to oppose the au- 
thority of the khedive was Sebehr Rahama. He was the own- 
er of thirty fortified posts, and his power was so great that the 
Egyptian government tried to check its growth, and sent out 
a force under the command of an ofiacer named Ballal. But 
Sebehr brought a force to oppose him, and Ballal was slain, to- 
gether with many of his men. The khedive had to submit to 
what he could not prevent, and Sebehr was more than ever 
the ruler of the slave-dealers. 

At last the khedive became alarmed lest Darf our should fall 
into the hands of Sebehr, in which case he might as well wrest 
the whole of the Soudan from Egypt. He tried to secure the 
rebel as an ally. He made him a bey, and invited him to join 
him in an expedition to Darf our. The invitation was accepted ; 
the joint forces of the khedive and the slave dealers attacked 
Darf our; the sultan and his two sons were slain; and though 
other members of the family succeeded to the throne, they 
were in turn killed, and Darf our became part of the Soudan. 
Sebehr was made a pasha; but he wanted to be more than 
that. 

" What will satisfy you?" was asked of him. 

" I have done the fighting and won the victory," he replied, 
"I ought to be governor-general." 

But the Prince of Wales had paid a visit to Egypt, and had 
protested against the slave-trade being carried on; this was a 
most excellent time to gratify the powerful empire of which his 
mother was the sovereign, by deferring to the opinions of the 
son ; for such deference would humble a presuming vassal. The 
khedive accordingly determined to suppress the slave-trade, 
through the agency of some determined Englishman. 

Sir Samuel White Baker had been one of the prince's party, 
and to him the khedive turned, asking him to draw up a plan 
for an expedition to Central Africa for the suppression of the 
slave-trade. The result was that the |j:hedive issued a firman, 
stating that among the tribes which inhabit the Nile basin 
there was neither government, laws nor security, and decree- 
ing an expedition to subdue to the khedive's authority the 



THE SOUDAN AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 655 

country situated to the south of Gondokoro, to suppress the 
slave-trade, to introduce a system of regular commerce, to 
open to navigation the great lakes of the equator, and to es- 
tablish a chain of military and commercial depots, distant at 
intervals of three days' march, throughout Central Africa, 
Avith Gondokoro as the base of operations. Sir Samuel Baker 
was appointed to the supreme command of this expedition, 
and the most absolute power was conferred upon him — such 
despotic power as had never before been intrusted by a Moham- 
medan to a Christian. 

Orders were given that five vessels should be built for the 
expedition : a paddle steamer of two hundred and fifty-one 
tons, two twin-screw high pressure steamers of one hundred 
and eight and thirty-eight tons respectively, and two steel life- 
boats, of ten tons each. These were to be carried across the 
Nubian desert in plates and sections. In addition to these, 
were steam saw-mills with a boiler that weighed eight hundred 
pounds in one piece. 

Besides Sir Samuel and Lady Baker, the English party con- 
sisted of ten persons, besides two servants. The expedition 
was to start in three divisions. Six ^steamers, convejang the 
merchandise, were to leave Cairo in June, 1869, forKhartoom. 
They were accompanied by fifteen sloops and fifteen diahbeahs. 
Three steamers and twentj^-five other vessels were to be in 
readiness at Khartoom. A second division had charge of the 
steamer sections and machinery, and was under the command 
of Mr. Higginbotham. Baker himself brought up the rear 
by another route, via Suakim. The reason for this division 
was, that if all had gone at once, there would have been con- 
siderable delay by reason of the short supply of camels on any 
one route. 

The military arrangements comprised a force of one thou- 
sand six hundred and forty-five troops, including a corps of two 
hundred irregular cavalry, and two batteries of artillery. The 
infantry were two regiments, supposed to be well selected ; the 
Soudani, or Blacks, included many officers and men who had 
served for some years in Mexico with the French army under 
Marshal Bazaine. The Egyptian regiment turned out to be 
for the most part convicted felons who had been transported 
for various crimes from Egypt to the Soudan. 

Baker arrived at Khartoom early in January, 1870. But al- 
though the khedive had seemed to wish to suppress the slave- 
trade, and had formally given Baker all necessary authority, it 
was an understood thing that this was merely for blinding the 



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THE SOUDAN AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 657 

outside world ; the Egyptian officials at Khartoom knew very 
well that they need not hurry themselves, and they did not do 
so. It was a month before the vessels were ready, which 
should have been in waiting. 

The irregular cavalry had proved to be so very irregular that 
Baker had concluded to dispense with it, on the ground that 
he could not well convey it to Gondokoro. For a while, the 
voyage went on well ; but as they ascended the White Nile be- 
yond the point where it was then well known, the work be- 
came more difficult. The stream was choked by all kinds of 
vegetable growth; sometimes there would be but a marsh in- 
stead of a stream. The men were obliged constantly to dig out 
a channel for the vessels. On one day, as they were digging 
out the steamers, which had become jammed by the floating 
rafts, they felt something struggling beneath their feet. They 
immediately scrambled away in time to avoid the large head of 
a crocodile that broke its way through the tangled mass in 
which it had been jammed and held prisoner by the rafts. The 
black soldiers, armed with swords and bill-hooks, immediately 
attacked the crocodile, who, although freed from imprison- 
ment, had not fallen into the kindest hands in the world. He 
was quickly dispatched, and that evening his flesh gladdened 
the cooking-pots of the Soudani regiment. One officer inform- 
ed Baker, very seriously, that the animal measured about forty- 
five feet from snout to tail. By rigid cross-examination of va- 
rious persons. Sir Samuel came to the conclusion that it was 
about ten feet long. 

Before them lay this hopeless sea of high grass, in the midst 
of which ran a dark streak, marking the course of the ditch 
through which they slowly steered. On one day, we find the 
record that after a hard day's work, they had advanced about 
a thousand four hundred yards. The first entry in his diary as 
to the swamp is dated March 7 ; and it was March 30 before 
he could record that the river was clear and unmistakable be- 
fore them. On that day, they traveled ten miles by poling. 
But this was only a temporary relief. The river which thus 
opened before them was at this season of the year too shallow 
to admit the passage of the vessels, and much to his own cha- 
grin and the delight of his followers, who wished to return to 
Khartoom, the leader gave the order to turn back. 

They had spent so much time in cutting a channel through 
the mud that it might be supposed that their descent would be 
a comparatively easy matter. But the ditches thus dug were 
scarcely to be traced now- The water was pent up by enor- 



THE SOUDAN AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 659 

mous dams of vegetation, mixed with mud and half-decayed 
matter, and forming a chain of lakes on a slightly varying lev- 
el; across these dams, since it was hopeless to attempt to cut 
through them, the steamers must be dragged by main force. 

But although a retreat had been necessary, the expedition 
was to make an effort to fulfill its purpose. As they 
descended the river, and came into that part of it which 
flows through the Shillook country. Baker learned that the 
koordi, as the governor of Fashoda was called, had been 
making a razzia on the Shillooks. The banks of the river 
were fairly alive with natives, running away in all direc- 
tions ; women were carrying off all their little stock of house- 
hold goods, and children were helping. Baker immediately 
went off in a rowing boat, and after much difficulty, succeeded 
in hearing the story that they had to tell. They said that the 
Turks had attacked them without provocation, had stolen 
many of their women and children, and had killed their peo- 
ple, as he was generally plundering the country. 

Early the next morning. Baker approached the point in the 
river where the governor's three vessels had laid up. The 
steamer, towing Baker's diahbeah, arrived within three-quar- 
ters of a mile of the place before the sound of the paddles 
attracted their attention. At once he could see the effect 
among the troops on shore. He made out one tent, and distin- 
guished people busily running to and fro; as the distance less- 
ened, he could see a number of people being driven from the 
shore on board a vessel that was lying alongside the bank. He 
felt convinced that these were slaves, as he could distinguish 
the difference in size between the children and the adults. 

The steamer ranged up alongside the bank opposite the tent 
which belonged to the koordi, and shortly afterward the gov- 
ernor made his appearance. He was invited on board the 
diahbeah, and a conversation begun. 

The official informed Baker that he had been collecting the 
taxes. Baker begged that he would explain his system of tax- 
ation, whether he had established a poll-tax or a house-tax, or 
in what special form the taxes were represented. The govern- 
or did not understand the question ; and after a short conver- 
sation in Turkish with an officer of Baker's, replied that the 
people were very averse to taxation, and therefore he made 
one annual tour through the country, and collected what he 
thought just. To a question whether he captured women and 
children or not, he replied by a distinct negative, accompanied 
by an expression of horror. 
42 



660 THE SOUDAN AND THE SLAATE TRADE . 

To this Baker replied by sending his aide-de-camp^ Lieut.- 
Col. Abd-el-Kader, to visit the vessels that were lying a few 
yards astern. This investigation showed that there were sev- 
enty-one slaves concealed there; and a corresponding search on 
shore revealed eighty-four — a total of one hundred and fifty- 
five, of whom ten were men, sixty-five were women and girls, 
and eighty were children. 

Baker insisted that every slave should be liberated ; the gov- 
ernor demurred, saying that he held the rank of bey, and was 
governor of the district; the Englishman thereupon demanded 
that he should put this refusal in writing. Then he altered 
his tone by explaining that these were not slaves, they were 
simply hostages for the unpaid taxes. At the same time he 
was obliged to confess that there was no established tax. Ba- 
ker learned that he had received from one native ten cows as 
the ransom of his child; that is, in the effort to collect the 
tax (?) of ten cows, the child had been seized, and was held 
until the tax was paid. In case the cows had not been forth- 
coming, as in the event of the father's death, the child would 
of course have been carried away and sold as a slave. 

Baker insisted upon the immediate and unconditional re- 
lease of the slaves ; and sooner than put his refusal to obey 
the khedive's emissary in writing, the governor sullenly allow- 
ed this to be done. As the Englishman told the people that 
they were at liberty, they could hardly realize the good news. 
He advised them to pack off as quickly as possible, now that 
they had the chance of freedom. The women at once took up 
their babies; others led the very small children by the hand; 
and with a general concert, they burst into the long, quaver- 
ing and shrill yell which means rejoicing. He watched them 
as they crossed the plain to their deserted homes, and then 
bade a coldly polite adieu to the koordi, feeling that this inci- 
dent would not add to the popularity of his expedition among 
the lower officials, many of whom, like the governor of Fash- 
oda, were directly interested in the slave trade. 

The first of May found the expedition encamped at Tewfikee- 
yah, and here they were visited by the king of the Shillooks, 
accompanied by two of his wives, four daughters, and a retinue 
of about seventy. The governor of Fashoda, in order to 
make discord among the Shillooks, who would therefore be 
less able to resist his efforts 1:o * 'collect taxes," had sent word 
to the khedive that his old king, Quat Kare, was dead, and 
actually secured a firman for the appointment of his successor, 
Jangy, a relative of his own. Since that time, the Shillooks 



THE SOUDAN AND THE SLAVE TKADE. 661 

had been divided; and the faithful adherents of the old king 
were oppressed and plundered by the combined forces of the 
koordi and Jangy. 

Baker received the old king with proper ceremonies, and 
made him several presents ; assuring him that the whole affair 
should be brought before the proper authorities. The Eng- 
lishman had now gained the entire confidence of the natives ; 
and was assured that all the male children born that year 
would be called the Pasha, in commemoration of his liberation 
of the captives. The camp was crowded daily with natives 
who came by water from a considerable distance to traffic with 
the soldiers. It was a tedious journey for them, for they had 
first to cross the western branch of the river, carry their ca- 
noes across a long island, directly opposite the camp, for a dis- 
tance of about a mile, and then cross the main river to arrive 
at the camp. Their canoes are formed of long pieces of the 
ambatch wood, which is lighter than cork. These curious trees, 
which grow in the basin of the White Nile, are thick at the 
base, and taper to a point; thus a number are lashed securely 
together, and the points are tied tightly with cord, so as to 
form a bow. These canoes, or rafts, generally convey two 
persons, and they are adapted especially for the marshy navi- 
gation of the river, as they can be carried on the head without 
difficulty when it may be necessary to cross an island or mo- 
rass. 

There was an old blind sheikh who visited them frequently 
from the other side, and this poor old fellow came to an un- 
timely end when returning one day from marketing with his 
son at Tewfikeeyah. Baker was walking on the quay, when 
he heard a great commotion, and saw a splashing in the river, 
the surface of which was covered with the ambatch fragments 
of a native canoe. There were many canoes on the river, sev- 
eral of which went at once to the assistance of two men who 
were struggling in the water. A hippopotamus had wantonly 
charged the canoe, and seizing it in his mouth, together with the 
poor old blind sheikh, who could notavoid the danger, crunch- 
ed the frail boat to pieces, and so crushed and lacerated the 
old man that, although he was rescued by his companions, he 
died during the night. 

Baker made an unsuccessful attempt to make peace-between 
the koordi and old Quat Kare; but Quat Kare declined to 
consider anything until his stolen cattle should have been re- 
turned, and the koordi would give him no satisfaction about 
them. The Englishman's authority did not extend over them. 






""II 




THE SbUDAK AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 663 

SO he could only advise that the quarrel should be referred to 
Djiaffer Pasha at Khartoom; promising to add his testimony 
if Quat Kare would enter complaint. 

A few days after this, a sail was espied on the river. If it 
should prove to be a slaver, it would be conclusive evidence 
that the koordi had not profited much by his previous lesson, 
but was determined to encourage the slave-trade. The vessel 
was boarded by Col. Abd-el-Kader, who was an exception to 
the rule that most Egyptian officers openly or secretly opposed 
Baker's work. The hold was filled with corn, covering a 
supply of ivory; and the commander evidently invited ex- 
amination. But Abd-el-Kader' s suspicions were aroused by 
the fact that homeward bound vessels did not usually carry 
such a large supply of corn ; and there was a familiar odor to 
the man accustomed to deal with unwashed negroes. Taking 
a steel ramrod from a soldier standing near by, he suddenly 
ran it deep into the pile of corn. There was a smothered cry 
from beneath it; and Abd-el-Kader thrust his long arm into 
the pile and assisted a negro woman to emerge. The corn was 
at once removed ; the planks which boarded up the forecastle 
and stern were broken down, and one hundred and fifty slaves 
were found, packed like herrings in a barrel, and compelled by 
threats to remain silent until they were discovered. The two 
officers of the vessel were decorated with some of the irons 
that were removed from their late captives, the captives them- 
selves were told that they were free to return home, and the 
vessel was sent to Khartoom under a suitable guard, being 
confiscated- as a slaver. 

Many of the released slaves chose to remain with their 
friends, who had freed them; and one little girl of about 
three years old, who had no parents, was taken in charge by 
Lady Baker. The others were assigned to various duties about 
the camp. 

The months were occupied by the soldiers in cultivating the 
ground; this being.ordered more for the sake of taking up the 
men's time and preventing idleness and insubordination than 
anything else. While they were thus employed. Baker made 
atrip up the river, determined to explore thorougly the sudd, 
or obstructions in the White Nile. He became convinced that 
the river could be cleared by means of a determined force 
working at it from below ; and went to Khartoom to secure 
the necessary aid. 

But the news of his deeds had preceded him ; and because 
of the capture of the slavers, the officials were antagonized, 



THE SOUDAN AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 665 

and delayed matters as much as possible. This was the true rea- 
son why Baker's mission was so often delayed, and when it 
finally failed — the Egyptian officials, from the khedive down, 
did not wish him to succeed. 

But he had yet to learn more of the difficulties in his way. 
Not only was he passively opposed by the officials, but he 
found that actually the Egyptian government, which had con- 
ferred on him such powers, and had positively commissioned 
him to suppress the slave-trade by the exercise of these pow- 
ers, had leased out certain tracts of country, with the sole 
privilege of trading therein, to persons who, nominally ivory 
merchants, were notoriously slave-hunters. Baker did not at 
this time realize that the khedive was a party to this deception; 
it was only when the results of his years of work were shown that 
he knew how far the deception had extended. 

■ December 11, the last division of the expedition again start- 
ed south. The river was at its highest, and every preparation 
had been made for cutting through the sudd at this favorable 
time ; so that it was hoped they would cross the shallows be- 
fore the stream fell. Their second progress up the river was, 
like the first, delayed by the necessity for cutting their way 
through the obstructions, although of course the greater quan- 
tity of water in the river made this work less difficult than be- 
fore ; and they were not at last obliged to turn back as in the 
previous year. On one occasion, however, the cutting of a 
channel drew all the water off above it, and left the vessels 
high and dry; so that the troops had to set to work to build a 
dam to perform the office of the natural one which they had 
laboriously destroyed. 

The commander improved his leisure by hunting; and at 
one time had a zinc boat full of hippopotamus flesh fastened 
alongside his diahbeah, with the dingy which was always 
there. He was awakened from a sound sleep that night by a 
tremendous splashing, accompanied by the hoarse wild snort- 
ing of a furious hippopotamus. He jumped up, and saw that 
the animal, apparently, was about to attack the vessel. Wak- 
ing his sleeping people, and calling to one to bring his rifle, 
he was yet not in time to avert the attack. The hippopotamus 
dashed at them with inconceivable fury. With one blow he 
capsized and sunk the zinc boat with its cargo of flesh. In 
another instant he seized the dingy in his immense jaws, and 
the crash of splintered wood betokened the complete destruc- 
tion of a favorite boat. By this time Suleiman appeared with 
the gun, shaking so with fear that he had forgotten to load 



666 THE SOUDAN AND THE SLAVE TRADiJ. 

it or bring ammunition. Meanwhile the people on the boat 
were endeavoring to frighten the hippopotamus off by shout- 
ing, but he charged and plunged beneath the water in a cloud 
of foam and wave with a blind fury which the white man 
could compare only to a bull-dog's. 

At last the loaded rifle was ready, charged with an explo- 
sive shot. But shot after shot was fired at the furious beast 
without apparent effect, his rapid movements and the uncer- 
tain light making it impossible to take a definite aim. At 
length wounded, he retired to the high grass, and lay there, 
twenty-five yards away, snorting and blowing. Half an hour 
later he recovered his strength and fury, and again charged 
the vessel. A ball in the top of his head sent him rolling over 
and over through the water; but even then he managed to 
reach his hiding-place on shore. Yet a third time he essayed 
the destruction of his enemy, but Baker, having a fair shot 
at his shoulder, was ready with a reception that sent him back 
to the shore. He records that he distinctly heard the bullets 
strike. The huge brute again turned, and plunged into the 
shallows between him and the diahbeah; but another shot at 
his shoulder proved fatal at last, and he fell dead in the shal- 
low flat of the river. Investigation showed that eight shots 
had taken effect, one of which had broken his jaw, and an- 
other cut off one of his huge tusks. His body was seamed 
with wounds and scars, showing that he had had frequent bat- 
tles with his comrades, and was a bad character generally. 

At Gondokoro another camp was established, the expedi- 
tion reaching this point April 15, 1871. Here they first came 
in contact with the powder of the slave-dealers, as represented 
by the resistance offered by their subordinates. The most ex- 
tensive dealer, perhaps, in the forbidden merchandise, was 
Sheikh Achmet Agad, who had leased a territory comprising 
about ninety thousand square miles for trading purposes; with 
the tacit understanding that the payment of a round sum an- 
nually would insure him against any disagreeable questions be- 
ing asked. His chief agent was Abou Saood, and he had in- 
cited the people around Gondokoro to oppose Baker with all 
all their might, as intending to destroy all the prosperity of 
the country. 

It was an absolute necessity that they should cultivate the 
ground here, for no food could be obtained from the natives. 
For a while they lived upon sparrows which they shot, but 
these, as the historian feelingly observes, are a little light on 
the stomach. The Sheikh AUorron and his people had been 



THE SOUDAN AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 667 

driven out by the Loquia, but now returned under the protec- 
tion of the khedive's forces; yet this very sheikh said to 
Baker: 

" How long are you going to remain here? You had better 
go back to Khartoom, and I will eat the corn you have plant- 
ed when it becomes ripe." 

It is needless to say that this invitation to return was de- 
clined, and Allorron was informed that Gondokoro would be 
the depot of supplies, and that the ground, which belonged to 
the khedive, would be made to yield sufficient grain for the 
maintenance of his forces in this country. 

But the Baris, the people of Allorron, were by no means 
easy to deal with. Baker thought at one time that he had suc- 
ceeded in keeping them within bounds by a treaty made with 
them ; but having^ secured the return of the cattle which he 
had confiscated, they shamelessly broke their solemn prom- 
ises. Matters went on thus, until he learned that the Baris 
had allied themselves with the natives of Belinian. Open war 
was then begun; and the soldiers at Gondokoro, or Ismailia, 
as the station had been newly named in honor of the khedive, 
were subject to frequent attacks, chiefly by night. The most 
important of these took place on the night of July 21, about 
half-past one. Baker had established a minor station about a 
mile from headquarters, at which he had his chosen corps of 
forty men, who had originally well earned the title of *' The 
Forty Thieves," but who were publicly designated only as the 
"The Forty," and who had long ceased to merit the other epi- 
thet. The main station was therefore left in command of his 
subordinates, the officers of the Soudani regiments and the 
Egyptian troops. It may be added that the smaller station 
was never attacked, for the natives were more afraid of the 
well-disciplined and faithful Forty than they were of all the 
other troops. 

The attack began with a confused din of native drums, 
horns, and yells. At first there were a few scattering shots 
from the sentries, who turned and fled before the advance of 
the enemy. Hastily the main force was summoned to repel 
them, and volley after volley of musketry was poured into the 
motley mob. The yells of the natives and the din of their 
horns increased as the firing went on, although their weapons 
did not add to the noise. For half an hour the struggle lasted; 
then they saw that it was a hopeless effort; the troops were 
intrenched behind a high thorn-fence, over which the naked 
Baris could not climb. Parties here and there left the field, 



THEi SOUDAN AXD THE SLAVE TRADE. 6'69 

the yells ceased, the noise of horns and drums dwindled. The 
roll of musketry diminished to dropping shots. The bugles 
sounded '' cease firing;" then the advance; again volleys of 
musketry were heard; and once again the bugles sounded 
'* cease firing," and finally the retreat. The night attack had 
been repulsed. 

But although accompanied by so much noise, this fight was 
not a very bloody one. Of the force in the station one man 
had been killed and two men wounded. Such a f usilade as had 
resulted from their firing should have covered the field with 
Bari dead ; but their aim had been so bad, that it was evident 
that the enemy had lost but few. The bodies of the slain had 
however, been carried off. 

Finding that the Baris, the Belinians, and other tribes, were 
determined to continue the harassing attacks which were made 
almost nightly, and their depredations upon the cattle and 
fields of the stations, and knowing that they were much 
encouraged by the secret alliance of Abou Saood, who had 
now arrived at this point and was encamped, opposite to 
Ismailia, Baker determined to assume the offensive. He was 
surrounded by enemies; not only by those who were openly 
so, or only half-concealed, like Abou Saood, but even many of 
his own officers were disaffected, and only waiting until the ex- 
pedition should be obliged, by lack of supplies, to return to 
Khartoom. 

August 30, Baker Pasha took a force of four hundred and 
fifty men, with one gun, and one rocket-trough, and marched 
toward the Belinian stockades. These were situated in the 
vale and on the heights along the base of the mountain ; but 
at this season only the tops of the huts were visible above the 
high dhurra, which was just ripened, although the general 
harvest had not yet begun. 

The alarm was given by the native sentries, and the Baris 
and Belinians rapidly collected in large numbers. They estab- 
lished themselves in the stockaded villages, which are abso- 
lutely impregnable to troops attacking from any distance. The 
stockades are formed of trunks of iron-wood trees driven 
firmly into the ground; the interval between these is too 
small for a mark for the distant riflemen, and the bullets will 
not penetrate the hard wood. There was nothing for it but to 
assault the stockades and take them by main force; for if the 
attacking party come but close enough, the rifles may be aim- 
ed directly at the spaces, the stockades thus defend those out- 
side more than those within. 



THE SOUDAN AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 671 

The rush was so unexpected by the Baris thatthe first stock- 
ades were taken at the point of the bayonet. This kind of at- 
tack was something that they did not comprehend ; they had 
been accustomed to only the slave hunters' irregular companies, 
and they had never seen a charge home with the bayonet. When 
the gate of their stockade was broken down, and the soldiers 
rushed among them, they had no longer any thought of re- 
sisting, but fled in blind terror. 

This assault upon the strongholds of the enemy^ gave into 
the hands of Baker's men a considerable quantity of ripe 
dhurra, which was still standing in the fields ; and which was 
badly needed for food ; but true to their desire to return to 
Khartoom, they worked so slowly cutting it that the Baris and 
Belinians, working at night, secured more than they did by 
working all day. 

The Baris had hitherto been enabled to maintain themselves 
by aid of their allies, among whom w^ere the Loquia, their an- 
cient enemies, conciliated very recently. These had lost many 
men in this attack upon the stockades, and were correspond- 
ingly angry at the allies through whose agenc}^ they had been 
led into this war. The chief determined that he would not re- 
turn home empty-handed, and captured about two thousand 
head of cattle from the Belinians before he returned to his 
mountain fastnesses. The Baris now sued for peace, and de- 
clared that if Baker would lead them in an attack against Lo- 
quia, they would transport the corn with which the Loquia 
country abounded to Gondokoro, for the use of the troops; 
so that the soldiers should not be encumbered with it. They 
added that the Loquia was a large and powerful tribe, and 
that Baker would need many men to assault them in their fast- 
nesses ; but that would not make so much difference, they ad- 
ded, for since the Baris and Belinians were his friends now, 
he would not find it necessary to leave a strong guard at Gon- 
dokoro. 

This kind regard for his military arrangements confirmed 
his suspicions; the savages intended thatthe Loquia should 
be attacked, but that on the return march they would them- 
selves attack his troops and possess themselves of the booty, 
while others of their tribe secured the few who should be left 
as a guard at Gondokoro. He proposed to them that since 
they had offered to transport such a large quantity of corn 
such a great distance, they should first prove their fidelity by 
carrying that which was in his Belinian camp to the station be- 
side the river. They saw that they had been found out ; and 



672 



THE SOUDAN AXI> THE SLAVE TRADE. 



lacking the persistence with which those of another race, de- 
termined to blind the white man, would have shown by sub- 
mitting to this test, they shirked the proposed work. It is 
needless to say that the Loquia were not attacked. 

For some days after this offer was rejected, the camp was 
surrounded with the enemy, hidden from sight. It was unsafe 
for a soldier to venture even so far as the brink of the river. 
This was met with similar tactics. "The Forty" were told off 
in twos and threes, and concealed in the high dhurra andTthe 
long grass by means of which the Baris approached their hid- 
ing-places; and in a few days the Baris confessed to them- 
selves that it was useless to attempt to fight with such men, as 
the earth was full of soldiers who sprang up out of the ground 
at their very feet. 

Baker was now congratulating himself upon the station which 

peace enabled him to enjoy. 
It was under careful cultiva- 
tion, and the liberated slaves 
formed faithful and efficient 
servants. Lady Baker had 
carefully trained several 
young girls to house-work, 
and these, in addition to half 
a dozen excellent boys, were 
all neatly clothed and kept in 
admirable discipline. One of 
these boys, Amarn, an Abys- 
sinian, had been the slave of 
one of the captains in the 
Egyptian regiment: but be- 
ing shamefully ill-used, had 
claimed Baker's protection, 
which was not refused. 

The idea that an officer of 
a force designed to suppress 
the slave-trade should be the owner of a slave, and should actu- 
ally carry it with him upon such an expedition, is not a little in- 
consistent. But against Baker's express orders, his officers 
had purchased no less than one hundred and twenty-six slaves 
since they set out, besides those that they brought with them 
at the start. Had discipline been lax, this slave-trade-sup- 
pressing expedition would have become nothing more than a 
government slave-market for the reception of slaves captured 
by theKhartoom companies. As soon as the purchase of these 




Amarn: Freed Abyssinian Slave-Boy. 



THE SOUDAN AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 673 

slaves became known to him, he ordered their release ; and 
this did not add to his popularity among his officers. 

October 13, 1871, the storm which had long been brewing, 
burst; his officers, excepting those of the ''Forty Thieves," 
signified their desire and intention to abandon the expedition, 
and return to Khartoom. To the letters which he received 
from them. Baker paid no attention whatever; but ordered 
out the troops and went in search of granaries of the Baris, 
these people having refused to sell him corn; for the excuse 
given by his officers was that there was not a sufficient supply 
of grain to feed the men, nor could any be obtained. Stores 
were taken from the enemy, which one of the disaffected of- 
ficers himself, carried away by the enthusiasm of the moment, 
declared that they could not eat in ten years. 

Perpetually harassed by the Baris, who had not yet given up 
the fight, but had only been driven a little farther from the 
camp, Baker's success in hunting was not without its moral 
influence. Much to his surprise, for the country was thickly 
populated, a herd of elephants came along the banks of the 
river, within four hundred yards of his temporary camp. 
They numbered eleven ; and while they were crossing the river 
and clambering up the steep bank on the opposite side, he 
succeeded in killing two. Some of the natives, among whose 
villages this expedition in search of grain had led them, were 
very friendly; and to them Baker assured as much elephant's 
flesh as they wished to use. The news spread; and the inim- 
ical natives sued for peace with the man who could kill ele- 
phants and give their meat away. Not only did they wish for 
peace, but they promised to assist Baker in transporting his 
goods and stores when he should be ready to leave Gondokoro. 
Peace was established throughout a large and powerful dis- 
trict, corn enough to last twelve months had been secured, and 
the leader returned to Gondokoro, very well satisfied with the 
results of his work. 

The strength of the expedition, however, had been very ma- 
terially lessened through the treachery of Col. Eaouf Bey, who 
had been ordered to send to Khartoom only such men as were 
absolutely unable, by reason of sickness, to proceed; instead 
of obeying these orders, he had sent off many able-bodied men, 
so that but five hundred and two officers and men were left at 
Gondokoro. Three hundred and forty of these must be left 
at Gondokoro; with two hundred and twelve men, including 
officers. Baker must begin his advance south. 

He was now in this dilemma: if he remained at Gondokoro 



THE SOUDAN AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 675 

— waiting for reinforcements, his term of office, which expired 
April 1, 1873, would pass without his having accomplished 
anything; should he advance and meet with defeat or destruc- 
tion of his small force, he would be universally condemned for 
rashness. Yet the latter course seemed the lesser of two evils. 
The natives who had so willingly promised Baker to as- 
sist in transporting his goods, failed him, almost as a mat- 
ter of course, when it came to the test; and he was obliged 
to change the course which he had marked out for himself, 
and advance towards Lobore. Arrived at Fatiko, they found 
that Abou Saood had reached there before them. Abou wished 
to receive Baker Pasha very cordially ; but the Englishman, re- 
membering his treachery, declined his invitation to rest in a hut 
that had been prepared for his reception, and prepared a 
camp in the usual manner. Some days afterward he reviewed 
his troops, and after a sham battle the band began to play. 
They had no instruments but bugles, drums and cymbals, so 
that the music would not have passed muster as pleasing any- 
where else ; but in Africa it was irresistible. The band played 
rather lively airs, and the women thronged from all directions, 
dancing as they came like the children after the Pied Piper of 
Hamelin. Some of them wore their babies slung on their 
backs; the rest of them wore nothing at all; so that the ef- 
fect, as they joined hands and capered wildly around, was, to 
say the least, amusing. The men did not share in the dance, 
but squatted on the rocks around to enjoy the music and ad- 
mire the efforts of their wives and daughters. 

The journey from Fatiko to Masindi was not without events, 
but they scarcely need to be recorded here ; since it is but a 
repetition of the difficulties of obtaining food from natives 
rendered hostile by the machinations of the slave-traders ; of 
the professed innocence of the so-called "ivory merchants," 
and of the liberation of the unfortunate creatures who had 
fallen into their clutches. At Masindi Baker secured some in- 
teresting statistics as to the value of slaves; in Unyoro, a 
healthy young girl's value was fixed at a new shirt, or a first- 
class elephant's tusk; thus one might buy such a commodity 
for a shirt, and sell her for a large tusk of ivory. In Uganda, 
there were so many clever tailors and furriers, that there was 
a great demand for needles ; and thirteen of them would buy 
a girl who in Unyoro could not be purchased for less than a 
shirt. 

A sheikh of the Shir tribe com plained to Baker that some of his 

neighbors had carried off many women and children belonging 
43 



676 THE SOUDAN AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 

to his tribe, and asked the Englishman to assist in retaliation; 
he wished to carry off all the women and children belonging 
to the enemy's tribe. Baker Pasha read him a touching lecture 
upon the horrors and enormities of the slave-trade; the sheikh 
was evidently touched at what was said about the separation 
of children from their parents. 

* 'Have you a son?" he asked. 

"My sons are, unfortunately, dead," replied the English- 
man. 

Thereupon the savage proceeded to extol his own and only 
son ; and wound up by offering to sell him to Baker for a na- 
tive iron spade ! 

His stay at Masindi was partly employed in communicating 
with Mtesa, with whom he was anxious to establish a legiti- 
mate commerce, in order to do away with the slave-trade. 
His theory throughout was this : if the natives of Central Af- 
rica once can be made to understand that the goods which 
they covet, the manufactures of civilized countries, can be se- 
cured in return for other articles, there will no longer be the 
same temptation for them to engage in the slave-hunts ; and 
the supplies on which the traders now depend will cease. 

The pasha experienced much trouble in getting supplies of 
food from Kabba Rega, the Chief of Masindi. He had made 
many efforts to buy corn, but had met with but small success. 
June 7, he was somewhat surprised to receive, as a present, five 
large jars of plantain cider. He declined it, on the ground 
that he wished grain, and that he was willing to buy. The 
messenger returned with seven jars of cider, and two large 
packages of flour, which he begged the pasha would accept. 
There was no getting out of this ; and the food and drink were 
distributed among the men. 

Hardly an hour had passed, before Baker was hastily sum- 
moned from his divan; the cider had been used, and many of 
the men were suffering terribly, with a tightness of the throat 
and a burning internal pain. He at once prepared tartar emet- 
ic, and bade his wife mix as much mustard and strong salt and 
water as could be hastily prepared. These remedies were ad- 
' ministered, and the troops were saved from the further effects 
of the tartarized antimony which the cider had contained. 

Baker then sent a message to the man who had acted as the 
chief's emissary, Matonse. He returned word that he would 
come early the next morning; the next morning he did not 
come, and Baker started to walk toward his dwelling. Sud- 
denly he beard a yell from a thousand throats — the whole 



THE SOUDAN AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 677 

tribe was rushing from all directions upon the station. The 
man at his side fell, pierced to the heart by a bullet. Baker 
at once commanded the bugler to sound the taboor. Almost 
instantly the soldiers, whom the experience of the previous 
night had naturally alarmed, were on the field of battle. The 
arrangements were rapidly made; and soon the savages found 
themselves with burning buildings on either flank, and a de- 
termined enemy before them. In about an hour and a quarter 
the battle of Masindi was won, and not a trace remained of 
the once populous town, beyond the heaps of blackened ashes 
which marked where the huts had stood. Four men of Baker's 
small force had been killed. 

A subsequent attack, during which the natives set fire to the 
soldier's quarters, determined Baker upon leaving this station, 
as his force was too small to be safely kept there. He according- 
ly arranged for the firing of the houses that had been built for 
them, and all that was not really necessary was left behind in 
the burning buildings. Even then, they found themselves en- 
cumbered with much baggage, and such articles as the raw- 
hides upon which the men slept, and the bed-steads of the of- 
ficers, were burned during the second day's march. A case of 
excellent brandy was also committed to the flames. 

Their march was through ambuscade after ambuscade; but 
fortunately these attacks were all repulsed. The natives, how- 
ever, did not seem to be deterred by the defeat of their comrades ; 
but annoyed the troops as persistently as ever. Arrived at 
Foweera, where he had expected to find shelter in the old camp, 
they found that everything had been destroyed by fire; noth- 
ing remained but blackened ashes. Baker at once decided 
that it would be necessary to arrange some means of defense 
here, while he awaited the arrival of Major Abdullah and the 
force which had been sent after Kabba Rega when they left 
Masindi ; for his ammuniton was beginning to run short. 

At this stockade he was visited first by messengers from Ri- 
onga, and subsequently by that chief himself. Rionga insisted 
upon exchanging blood with the pasha, by means of which an 
indissoluble friendship would be cemented, and his people 
thoroughly attached to the ofiicial. To this Baker consented, 
himself exchanging blood with the chief, while Lieut. Baker 
and Col. Abd-el-Kader exchanged blood with the chief's son 
and principal minister. Thus they were assured of one friend. 

Messengers soon arrived from Abdullah, who informed him 
that the attempt to destroy the force by poison, and subse- 
quently the attack which had been repulsed by setting fire to 



678 



THE SOUDAN AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 



the town of Masindi, had been due to the intrigues of Abou 
Saood, who appears to have followed the expedition like an 
evil genius. 

Effecting a junction with Major Abdullah at Fatiko, the' 
pasha found assembled there a number of men under the com- 
mand of a lieutenant of Abou Saood's ; and his force was open- 




Making Blood-Brotherhood. 

ly attacked by them. The splendid courage and discipline of 
the "Forty Thieves," however, routed them in a bayonet 
charge; and pursued them four miles into the country. One 
of their leaders was wounded and captured. Baker inquired 
for the other, who had been the scourge of the country. 



THE SOUDAN AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 679 

* ' Where is Ali Hussein ? ' ' 

" Dead," answered the natives, who had thronged to con- 
gratulate him on the victory. 

"Are you certain?" asked the pasha. 

*' We will bring you his head, for he is not far off," answer- 
ed one ; and several men started off before he could reply. 

He turned away, and as breakfast, which had been delayed 
by the battle and pursuit, was now ready, sat down to the ta- 
ble. While they were still at table, some natives rushed to the 
open door, and threw something heavy upon the " floor of the 
hut. It was the bloody head of Ali Hussein, the villainous ex- 
pression as strongly marked upon the features in death as in 
life. One of the men who brought this ghastly trophy ex- 
plained that Ali was wounded, but not dead, when they reach- 
ed him ; but they had no wish to show him mercy. 

The other lieutenant of Abou Saood, Wat-el-Mek, who had 
been wounded and taken prisoner, turned " state's evidence," 
and disclosed that Abou Saood had given them positive in^ 
structions to attack Baker's troops. But Baker's force was 
so small, that he hesitated about attacking this determined 
enemy. He would probably, it is true, have received the aid 
of all the natives ; but he felt assured that when Abou Saood 
should be thus destroyed. Baker Pasha would be attacked by 
the combined native forces, and that would be the last of the 
slave-trade-suppressing expedition. 

Baker was now obliged to remain for some time at Fatiko, 
awaiting the arrival of reinforcements from Gondokoro, which 
were to arrive under theleadership of Lieut. -Col.. Tayib Agha, 
of the Soudanis regiment. The interval was devoted mainly 
to hunting. It was as a hunter that he had won the hearts of 
the natives during his previous journeys, some slight account 
of which has been given in the preceding pages of this vol- 
ume; and he was anxious to maintain his prestige. Besides, 
they were so short of meat that a recourse to the chase was 
necessary to supply their needs. 

Hunting in the Shooli country is carried on as a profession, 
and conducted by general rules under an admirable organiza- 
tion. The favorite method was by means of nets. Each man 
possessed a net of strong cord, twelve yards long and about 
eleven feet wide, the meshes being about six inches square. The 
chase was organized by the chief of the district summoning a 
council, which decided where the hunt should be held. When 
the appointed day arrived, men, women and children gath- 
ered from the various villages. The nets are lashed to each 



Tltfi SOUDAN AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 681 

other and supported by bamboos, the high grass being cleared 
near the line of netting thus erected. Then the grass was fired 
far to windward, and the animals driven by the flames toward 
the net, behind which the hunters were screened by tufts of long 
grass bound together at the top. 

The hunt in which Baker and his oflicers took part resulted 
in the killing of a considerable number of animals ; and the 
people dispersed to their villages with a supply of the much- 
needed food. The gentlemen went on a private hunt about 
the last of December, accompanied by a few natives, and 
found game very plentiful. Baker Pasha, Lieut. Baker and 
Col. Abd-el-Kader duly posted themselves, while the natives 
undertook by firing the grass to drive the game toward them. 
Several animals had been sighted and shot, when Baker sud- 
denly saw a yellow tail rise from the hollow about a hundred 
yards before him. The lion plunged into the deep grass be- 
tween Baker and the hollow, and the white man whispered to 
his attendants not to be alurmed if they saw the beast very 
near them. He made ready his rifle ; also a spare gun. In a 
few moments he heard a louder rustling in the grass, not more 
than forty yards away ; it was followed by the appearance of 
the head and shoulders of a huge lioness. As she advanced 
slowly toward them, he fired full at her chest; she rolled over 
backward, and three times turned convulsive somersaults, at 
the same time roaring tremendously; but much to the sur- 
prise of the hunter, recovered herself, and charged in high 
bounds straight toward Baker's two boys. He had just time 
to snatch up his spare gun and fire at her ; when she disap- 
peared in the high grass to her left. He heard her groaning, 
in a succession of deep gutteral groans, fifty yards away, but 
supposed her to be mortally wounded. Covered with blood, 
she endeavored to escape past the point were Abd-el-Kader 
was concealed ; he fired at her, and broke her ankle ; but she 
was still concealed in the grass. Baker decided to draw her 
out, if the others would be ready to receive her; for he vetoed 
the proposition of the natives to attack herin her hiding-place 
with their spears. He accordingly aimed at a yellowish mass 
which some search disclosed in some withered reeds. The im- 
mediate reply was a determined charge, and the enraged ani- 
mal came bounding toward them with tremendous roars. The na- 
tives threw their spears, Lieut. Baker fired, but nothing could 
stop her. There was nothing for it but to run, and they ran. 
Baker hastily snatched up another gun, and rolled her over 
with a shot in the chest when she was nearly in the midst of 



THE SOUDAN AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 683 

them. She retreated with two or three bounds to her original 
covert; following her thither, armed with a heavier gun than 
he had been using, he put a bullet in the back of her neck, 
which dropped her dead. She measured nine feet six inches 
from nose to tail. 

Early in 1873, Baker received a communication from Mtesa, 
whose people, at his request, were still in search of Living- 
stone. These messengers were intrusted with a letter to the 
great missionary, which was delivered to Lieut. Cameron at 
Unyanyembe, and the reply forwarded through Mtesa to 
Baker at Gondokoro — an instance of postal communication in 
the heart of Africa which is somewhat astonishing. 

Lieut. -Col. Tayib Agha arrived in camp March 8, with a story 
that Baker considered disgraceful. He had quarreled with Yv^at- 
el-Mek, who was his subordinate in the expedition for reinforce- 
ments ; and because some of the native carriers had absconded 
in a portion of the Bari country named Moogi, he had set fire 
to the villages in revenge. The Baris had attacked the troops, 
and had not only killed twenty-eight, but had actually stripped 
the bodies of clothes, arms and ammunition. They had also 
captured the cattle. Yet Tayib Agha, with two hundred and 
eighty men, had retreated, and had not dared to attack the na- 
tives to recover either the bodies or the arms of his men. He 
was promptly superseded. 

Leaving Abdullah as commandant of Fatiko, Baker made 
his preparations for departure shortly after the arrival of the 
reinforcements which Tayib Agha had brought. He was ready 
to start March 20. " 

After the defeat of Tayib Agha under such circumstances, 
he fully expected to have to fight his way through ; but upon 
arrival in that district he found that the natives knew him, 
and they were not molested. They even sent him six cows 
which had been lost by Tayib Agha on the road during his un- 
lucky march. 

Baker had taken under his special protection a number of 
Bari women and girls whom Wat-el-Mek and Tayib Agha had 
pressed into their service to carry loads during their journey 
from Gondokoro to Fatiko. There can be no doubt that these 
poor creatures would never have returned to their country, 
had he not delivered them; but seeing their condition upon 
their arrival at Fatiko, he had ordered them to accompany 
him, and to show him the position of their homes during the 
march. On arrival at the broad dry bed of a stream about two 
days' march from Gondokoro, they halted beneath the shade 



tCHE SOUDAN AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 685 

of a large tree for breakfast. The women and children now 
approached, and hesitatingly declared that this was their coun- 
tvj, and their villages were near. They evidently doubted his 
sincerity in restoring them, which hurt him very much. 

*'Go, my good women," he exclaimed, "and when you ar- 
rive at your homes, explain to your people that you were cap- 
tured entirely against my will, and that I am only too happy to 
have restored you." 

For a few moments they looked around them, as hardly be- 
lieving the good news. In another instant, as the truth flashed 
across their delighted minds, they rushed upon him in a body; 
and before he had time for self-defense, he found himself in 
the arms of a naked beauty, who kissed him almost to suffoca- 
tion, and, with a most unpleasant embrace, licked both his 
e3^es with her tongue. The sentries and servants came to the 
rescue, and put a stop to the expressions of gratitude. 

The expedition arrived in Gondokoro April 1, the very day 
that Baker's commission exph^ed. Arriving at Cairo, he was 
received w^ith due honors by the khedive, to whom the con- 
dition of the country annexed to Egypt was fully reported ; 
and decorations were conferred upon Baker Pasha and his 
kinsman. Evidence as to Abou Saood's duplicity and actual 
treason, in ordering his men to fire upon the government's 
troops, was forthcoming for the benefit of the special tribunal 
before which he was to be tried. Baker was anxious to pros- 
ecute him personally, but was begged to return to England, 
and leave him in the hands of the authorities. After his de- 
parture from Egypt, Abou Saood was released, and appointed 
assistant to Baker's successor. 

What had been accomplished? In 1870, the river traffic in 
slaves had been stopped; but while Baker was on his way 
from Gondokoro to Khartoom, on his return, his vessel passed 
three slavers, which admittedly had on board seven hundred 
slaves. The slave-trade was not suppressed, because the deal- 
ers were secretly upheld by the government. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



GORDOJsr AKB THE MAHDL 

lAKER'S successor, in the first letter that he wrote home af- 
ter his arrival at Cairo, declared that the expedition which 
had been placed under the command of the eminent ex- 
plorer with such high pretense of delegated authority, 
was a sham gotten up to interest and please the English peo- 
ple. That successor was Charles George Gordon, and it is to 
him and his Avork that we now turn our attention. 

Some men interest by reason of what they have done ; oth- 
ers, by reason of what they are. It is Gordon's personality 
which is the most interesting to study, although his life has 
been full of adventure of the most thrilling kind. We must, 
however, pass over his early life, and the exploits by which he 
first gained name and fame, very briefly j for it is with his 
work as ruler of the Soudan — "The best Governor-General 
the Soudan ever had" — that we are now chiefly concerned. 

The son of a soldier of high rank, Gordon, born in 1833, 
was a lieutenant of engineers at the age of nineteen. He 
served with honor in the Crimean War, and was wounded at 
Sebastopol. After peace was concluded, he was one of the party 
that surveyed and" settled the Turkish and Kussian frontier in 
Asia. He was next engaged in the expedition against Pekin ; 
and afterward remained for several years in the service of 
China. His journeys through this country took him to places 
which had never before been visited by Europeans. In 1863, 
he was appointed commander of the "Ever Victorious Army," 
and suppressed the formidable Tai Ping rebellion. His ex- 
ploits in that connection, and the measures which he took for 
the relief of the districts involved, together with his service in 
the Chinese army, procured for him in Europe the nickname of 
" Chinese Gordon." He received rapid promotion in the British 
army, and was made Lieutenant-Colonel and Companion of 

G87 



688 



GORDON AND THE MAHDI. 



the Bath in 1864. In 1871, he was appointed British Vice- 
Consul to the Delta of the Danube. At the sitting of the 
Danubian Commission at Constantinople, he met with Nubar 
Pasha, the Armenian vizier of the khedive. It was through 
this officiaj that Gordon was appointed as Baker's successor. 




General C. G. Gordon. 

He arrived at Cairo in February, 1874. It was his wish to 
take a steamer that would shortly leave for Suakim, and reach 
his post of duty as quickly as possible ; but this did not suit 
the ideas of the vizier; the khedive's representative must trav- 
el in state. Attended by an equerry of the viceroy's, he went 
to Suez by special train, to take the steamer which had been 
chartered for his use. But a railway accident had occurred, 
and the special train was blocked. Gordon was compelled, 
despite the vizier, to be shunted into a common train with a 
great many people — "begun in glory and ended in shame." 



GOKDON AND THE MAHDI. ggg 

He reached Gondokoro, April 16, 1874; and found that the 
people there did not know of his nomination. Almost his first 
official act was in connection with Abou Saood. We have seen 
that this notorious slave-dealer had been appointed Gordon's 
assistant. The Englishman had not been unwilling, hoping to 
manage him in such a way as to eliminate his bad qualities, 
and make use of the good. But Abou Saood proved to be too 
much for Gordon's powers of reformation ; he discovered that 
the trader had stolen some of the government ivory, and had 
grossly deceived him on several occasions. These circum- 
stances aroused his suspicions ; and investigation showed that 
Abou Saood was, as Baker had found him, wholly untrust- 
worthy. It became evident that the trader was not only bent 
on circumventing Gordon's plans in every possible way, but 
that he was plotting against his life. Abou Saood was accord- 
ingly dismissed. 

For several months the work went quietly on; Gordon's aim 
being to teach the natives the means of trading in use among 
civilized nations, and the advisability of substituting other 
goods for slaves. During this time he gained the affection and 
respect of his officers and men. He cared for their wants and 
food, and protected the women and boys that would otherwise 
have been ill-treated ; but his devout spirit would not permit 
him to take to himself their touching gratitude ; in all that 
might be done, he was but the " chisel that cuts the wood." 

He undertook no such long journeys as Baker; and these 
very journeys and battles of his predecessor had paved the 
way for the comparative peace which enabled Gordon to re- 
main apparently inactive for two years. He had himself no 
desire for exploration, considering that it was not his province, 
while other duties might be neglected if he undertook it. The 
perusal of Schweinfurth's work, however, and the sense that 
his presence was not actually required at his headquarters, 
now that things were in a comparatively satisfactory condition, 
determined him to investigate the question, which Schwein- 
furth declared to be unsettled, whether the Albert Nyanza 
really belonged to the Nile Basin. He made his way through 
the jungle, among the ravines and gullies, and the high pois- 
onous grass, and finally reached the Albert Nyanza. The ques- 
tion was answered, and the length and breadth of the lake for 
the first time correctly determined by a member of the party. 

Gordon returned to England for the Christmas season of 
of 1876. He found the country terribly excited by the news of 
the Bulgarian atrocities. He was openly urged to give up the 



690 



GORDON AND THE MAHDI. 



work in the Soudan — it was said that he had finished it — and 
enter the service of his own country in order to prevent such 
massacres as those with which the press was teeming. But 
he knew how little had been really accomplished in the Sou- 
dan; he knew that all his efforts had amounted to but little, 
because there was no real wish among the Egyptians to abol- 
ish the slave-trade. It was just as he had pictured it at first — the 
Egyptian government was simply posing before the eyes of 
Europe as an enemy of the slave-hunters, while secretly it 
was permitting them to carry on their nefarious business with- 
out real molestation. 




King John's Palace. 

Gordon determined that he would not return to the Sou- 
dan under the same conditions as before; he must have a 
greater and more absolute power. Accordingly, the khedive, 
feeling that he could be secured on no other terms, appointed 
him governor-general of the Soudan. Three deputy gov- 
ernors were appointed 'to assist him in his stupendous task. 

Besides the duties of suppressing the slave-trade and im- 
proving the means of communication in the Soudan, Gordon 
now undertook to act as mediator between *Egypt and Abys- 
sinia, in a dispute which was then pending. We shall have 
now to return to the date of the battle of Magdala, in which 
Theodore was finally defeated by the British forces, and 
briefly relate the causes of this dispute. 



©ORDON AND THE MAHDI. 691 

Theodore left but one son, who was taken to England to be 
educated, but died shortly afterward. He was succeeded in 
the government by John II., or Johannis, who usurped the 
throne, but managed to become firmly seated upon it. Egypt, 
however, regarded Abyssinia as legitimate, or at least as possible 
prey; and seized upon Bogos. She next made an effort to secure 
the neighboring province of Hamacem. In a series of battles, 
the Abyssinians were uniformly victorious ; but at length the 
scale turned and Egypt won. Johannis made overtures of 
peace ; but the envoy was not well treated, and was at last 
sent back without a definite answer. It was while things were 
in this condition that Gordon came upon the scene. 

He was not allowed much time for negotiating terms of 
peace between the two countries, for news reached him that 
Darfourwas in rebellion, and that he was needed atKhartoom. 
He accordingly returned by forced marches to his seat of 
government. He found an imposing reception awaiting him, 
and quite a ceremony of installation. The firman appointing 
him was read, the cadi presented an address, and Gordon, 
much to his dismay, found that he was expected to respond by 
an address or speech of some nature. While the speech which 
he delivered to them was certainly not ambiguous, it was hardly 
as long as had been expected ; it consisted of these words : 

'' With the help of God I will hold the balance level." 

It was no easy task to hold the balance of the scales of jus- 
tice level in such a country as this ; but Gordon set himself at 
work immediately to begin reforms. One great impediment in 
the way of justice had been the custom which permitted the 
officials about the palace to demand bribes for allowing any 
matter to come to the ears of th^ governor-general ; but Gor- 
don struck at the root of this abuse at once. 

The expedition to Darfour was successful, but not without 
some fighting. Gordon was not a little disheartened when he 
found how wide extended w£^ the slave-trade. As he went to 
Obeid, on his return to Khartoom, he fell in with a caravan, 
and was asked to allow them to travel under the protection of 
his soldiers. He assented; but learned later on that there was 
a gang of eighty slaves with it. Questioning the merchants, 
they declared that these were their wives and children. The 
women and children were in chains, a circumstance which did 
not tend to confirm what the men said ; but there were no 
means of disproving the assertion, and Gordon was obliged to 
content himself with insisting ^that the chains should be re- 
moved. 
44 



GORDON AND THE MAHDI. 693 

On the road, he picked up slaves constantly, children and 
sick persons who had been unable to keep up with the cara- 
vans and had been left behind to perish of starvation and 
thirst. He lost all patience and hope. It seemed no use to 
try to suppress the traffic; it was more than man could do. 

Early in January, 1878, Gordon was summoned to Cairo by 
the khedive, whose financial condition just then was (as usual) 
none of the best. It was impossible for Gordon to lessen the 
expenses of the Soudan, or to increase its revenue ; the annual 
deficit was more than a million and a quarter of dollars. The 
khedive would not agree to the plans which Gordon proposed ; 
and the governor returned to his province feeling that he had 
been more outspoken than diplomacy would have advised. 

Even his short absence had made many abuses possible; and 
he must set to work at once to right them. One result, how- 
ever, comforted him : in two months he stopped twelve cara- 
vans of slaves. He became very summary in dealing with the 
traders ; one man was hanged for mutilating a little boy ; and 
he established a " government of terror" for these evil-doers. 

We have already traced the rise of Sebehr; he was still liv- 
ing at Cairo, unmolested by the authorities ; but his son Sul- 
ieman was chief in the province of Bahr Ghazal. News reach- 
ed Khartoom, shortly after Gordon's return from Cairo, that 
the province was in revolt, Sulieman being the leader. Rom- 
ulus Gessi, an Italian officer who had been in the Crimea with 
Gordon, was sent to subdue the rebellion. Everywhere ac- 
counts of massacres and outrages reached the ears of the Eu- 
ropean as he entered the province where Sulieman had now 
made himself supreme. These stories inflamed the minds of 
the soldiers, and some determined fighting was done. In the 
end, Sulieman and his chief men were captured, eleven being 
shot. They had been told two years before that if they went 
on with their slave-hunting they should answer for it with their 
lives, and it would have been far from wise to have shown 
them mercy now. The small slave dealers were held as pris- 
oners, and the common soldiers were released on condition 
that they should go back to their own country and settle down 
to a peaceful life. 

In June of that year, Ismail was deposed, and his son Tewfik 
was appointed his successor. Gordon intended to go at once 
to Cairo, but was delayed by the necessity of going again to 
Abyssinia, affairs between that country and Egypt being still 
unsettled. His mediation was not successful; for Johannis 
made preposterous demands, and the khedive had no wish 



694 GORDON AND THE MAHDI. 

either to fight or to cede back the provinces in dispute. The 
king refused to state his demands in writing, and Gordon re- 
fused to state them to the khedive unless they were put in 
writing. The embassador was accordingly dismissed, Johannis 
saying that he would send his own envoy to the khedive. Gor- 
don was twice arrested by order of the king before he reached 
the confines of Abyssinia, and at last had to buy his way out of 
the country. 

Eeaching Massowa in safety, he found an English gun-boat 
there. He had asked the khedive, by telegram, when he was 
first arrested in Abyssinia, to send a regiment and two steam- 
ers with guns to Massowa, bribing his custodian heavily to send 
these dispatches to the nearest telegraph station. No notice 
had been taken of this appeal ; and Gordon, disgusted with 
the khedive's government, resigned his position. 

Lord Ripon had recently been appointed governor-general 
of India; and Gordon accepted the position of his private sec- 
retary. But no sooner had he landed in Bombay than he saw 
that he had made a mistake, and resigned at once. Thence he 
went to China, receiving the necessary permission from the 
government on condition that he did not accept any military 
position. From China he went to Ireland; from Ireland to 
Belgium ; and from Belgium to Mauritius, where he remained 
ten months. Early in 1882, it was found desirable that he 
should be sent to South Africa, to settle the affairs of Basuto- 
land. Negotiations with the rebellious chiefs were pending, 
when news arrived that an expedition had been sent out to at- 
tack one of them. This so enraged the threatened chief that 
he at once broke off negotiations, and Gordon tendered his 
resignation. He returned to England, and went thence to the 
Holy Land, where he spent some time very quietly in the 
neighborhood of Jerusalem. 

Meanwhile, what was the condition of affairs in the Soudan? 
As to the slave-trade, that was going on much as usual, al- 
though England was making the usual spasmodic efforts to 
suppress it. Along the eastern coast the dhows were still ply- 
ing their infamous traffic. Late in 1881, an encounter between 
one of these vessels and the pinnace of H. M. S. London had 
resulted most disastrously for the latter, the captain and 
two of the crew being killed. This drew the attention of the 
English government again to the subject, and two^ vessels, 
the Undine and the Harrier, were sent to watch the eastern 
slave coast of Africa. The most notable success they met was 
in the spring of 1883, when the Undine ran down and captured 



GORDON AND THE MADHI. 695 

a dhow suspected of being a slaver. In a vessel of sixty-three 
tons' burden were found one hundred and twenty miserable 
wretches, packed in the hold like sardines; their limbs so 
cramped by the confinement and worn by the fetters which 
had weighted them down on their journey to the coast, that 
when they were liberated, only about twenty were able to walk. 
They had been kidnapped about two hundred miles south of 
Madagascar. 

There were new disturbing elements arising in the Soudan. 
In many Mohammedan countries there is a tradition firmly be- 
lieved that after twelve centuries from the Hegira, El Mahdi, 
or the New Deliverer, would appear. These twelve centuries 
were reckoned to have come to an end Kov. 12, 1882. 

But the Mussulman who had determined to call himself El 
Mahdi had not the patience to wait for the exact arrival of 
this time; perhaps he feared that if he did so, there would be 
too many Mahdis all at once. His name was Mohammed Ach- 
met, and he was the son of a carpenter. He was apprenticed 
to his uncle, but ran away from him because of a beating which 
he received. We find him next at a free school kept by a der- 
vish near Khartoom, attached to the patron saint of that place, 
and greatly venerated by the natives. From this school he 
went to another, near Berber, where there is also a shrine ; 
and seems to have established a reputation for sanctity. 

Ordained a faki in 1870, he dug a cave for himself on the is- 
land of Abba, in the White Nile. He began to be known as a 
very pious man, much given to burning of incense, fasting and 
prayer. After a while he was joined by followers, who made 
him rich gifts ; so that he became wealthy. His riches were 
increased by means of his marriages; for he took as many 
wives as the Mohammedan law allows (four), and they were 
all well-dowered. In May, 1881, being then about thirty; he 
began to write letters, declaring himself El Mahdi who had 
been foretold. He said that he had been sent to reform Is- 
lam, to establish the equality of man, and to make the rich 
share with the poor. Many followers came to him, attracted 
by these doctrines. Then he went a step further, and predict- 
ed the destruction of those who did not believe in him. 

Having made this prediction, his followers did their best to 
fulfill it ; and victories by the troops of the Mahdi were follow- 
ed by massacres. Within a year and a half nine thousand of 
the Egyptian troops had fallen; but, on the other hand, forty 
thousand of the Mahdi 's followers had been slain. Abd-el- 
Kader was commander-in-chief of the forces. Col. Hicks, a re- 



GORDON AND THE MADHI. 697 

tired Indian officer of some distinction, his chief of staff. It 
was deemed inexpedient, in view of the religious nature of the 
Mahdi's claim, to place a foreigner and non-Mussulman at the 
head of the army, so that Hicks Pasha was second in command. 
It was his generalship, however, which won the battles, and so 
it was understood in Europe. 

With ten thousand men, six thousand camels, and many 
pack-horses and mules. Hicks Pasha set out for Obeid. For 
some time no reliable news reached Europe regarding his 
progress and the results of his journey. There were many fore- 
bodings, for it was known that the march was a difficult one, 
and that the Mahdi's followers were numerous, fanatical, and 
cruel. The prevalent opinion was that in the event of his de- 
feat, a complete abandonment of the Soudan provinces would 
be preferable to a continual drain of blood and treasure. 

Then the news came. There had been three days' fighting. 
Hicks Pasha had been killed, and all his men. They had 
fought in detached gi'oups, each body of men surrounded by 
Arabs, who picked them off in turn. Hicks Pasha fought like 
a lion, discharging the contents of his revolver three times, 
and then using his sword. He was the last of the staff to die. 
The Arabs numbered twenty to one; and as the desperate gal- 
lantry of Hicks' men showed in the death of their enemies, 
the vacancies would be supplied by fresh men. The story has 
never been fully told, because those who would have told it 
well were killed. A black man who was not in uniform, es- 
caped, and made his way to Khartoom — the sole historian whose 
account of the Battle of Kashgill has reached the ears of Eu- 
rope. 

Among the Egyptians, the feeling prevailed that to be sent 
to the Soudan was equivalent to a sentence of death. It was 
necessary to send an English force and an English command- 
er. It was then that a London Journal asked: 

"Why not send Chinese Gordon with full powers to Khar- 
toom, to assume absolute control of the territory, to treat with 
the Mahdi, to relieve the garrisons, and to do what can be 
done, to save what can be saved from the wreck in the Sou- 
dan? There is no necessity to speak of the pre-eminent quali- 
fications which he possesses for the work. They are notorious, 
and as indisputed as they are indisputable." 

Gordon was the most popular and beloved governor-general 
that ever ruled the Soudan ; not only did English opinion de- 
clare that he ought to be sent, but the natives wished often 
that he might come. The appointment was made January 18, 



698 aORDON AND THE MADHI. 

1884. He was to report upon the military situation in the 
Soudan, and on the measures which it might be advisable to 
take for the safety of the Europeans resident there, as well as 
the Egyptian garrisons and others, native Christians, Egyptian 
employes, etc., who would not wish to remain after the with- 
drawal of the troops. All details as to time and method were 
left to him; he was to effect the evacuation of the Soudan. 

On February 4, occurred another terrible defeat, only less 
overwhelming than that of Kashgill. A few days later the gar- 
rison of Sinkat was massacred. The English government 
promptly took steps to send re-inforcements against the Mahdi 
and Osman Digna, the calif of this prophet. A force of four 
thousand men was hastily collected and sent to the western shores 
of the Red Sea, and a regiment on its way home from India was 
ordered to stop at Suakim. Word was sent to Tokar that if 
the garrison could hold out a little longer, relief would be sent. 
Then followed the second battle of Tel-el-Kebir, which re- 
versed the result of the first, for the Mahdi's forces were de- 
feated. Then the victors marched into Tokar, and their com- 
mander, General Graham, announced that the objects of the 
expedition had been achieved. 

General Graham's forces won another victory over Osman 
Digna, and then left for home, leaving the chiefs to consult 
with Gordon — if they would. 

Gordon had taken no force with him ; his sole companion 
was Lieut. -Col. Stewart, who was his secretary. He consider- 
ed that the work of conciliating the natives would be most 
easily done without any signs of force ; while an army had not 
proved enough to protect Hicks Pasha. His first acts in Khar- 
toom were to correct many abuses ; his next was to send out 
all the women and children, two thousand in all, that he found 
there. 

But the lines were tightening around him; the Mahdi's 
forces were approaching Khartoom; and more than one con- 
flict marked the first two months. Efforts were, however, 
made on both sides to effect a negotiation. General Gordon 
sent a message to the Mahdi : 

'' I will make you sultan of Kordofan." 

" I am the Mahdi," was the only reply that was returned. 

The Mahdi then sent Gordon a letter in which he advised 
him to become a Mohammedan. The letter was rather friendly 
than otherwise, but the emissaries were insolent. In Gordon's 
presence they kept their drawn swords in their hands, and 
jgpread out a filthy patched dervish's coat before him. 



GORDON AND THE MAHDI. 699 

** Will you become a Mussulman?" they asked. 

*' No!" replied Gordon; and flung the coat across the room. 
From that time forth there was no hope of anything being ef- 
fected by negotiation. The town was invested, and Gordon 
made every preparation for the siege. Ten thousand men who 
sympathized with the Mahdi were within its walls, and these 
were sent out. Houses were loop-holed, walls were strength- 
ened, guns were placed in position. 

Meanwhile the English were repeatedly asking: "Is Gordon 
safe?" Of course, there was but little news from him; but what 
reached them showed that he considered he had been aban- 
doned by the government. April 16, he telegraphed that he 
should hold out as long as he could, and suppress the rebellion 
if possible. If he could not accomplish this he would retire to 
the Equator, and leave the government the disgrace of having 
abandoned the four garrisons of Sennaar, Kassala, Berber and 
Dongola. 

August 26, he telegraphed that he was awaiting the arrival 
of British troops in order to effect the evacuation of these 
towns. Help was on the way then, for the British government 
had at last been compelled by the voice of the people to see 
the serious condition of Gordon, and to send General Lord 
Wolseley to his relief. It was after the arrival of these forces 
in Egypt (September 17) that the telegram above mentioned 
was received at Cairo. 

During the months that were required for the English troops 
to ascend the Nile to Khartoom, the Mahdi was drawing his lines 
closer around Khartoom, and was declaring that he would yet 
starve out the garrison. He sent a message at one time call- 
ing upon Gordon to surrender. Gordon replied that when the 
Prophet should dry up the waters of the Nile, and send his 
men across dry-shod, he would surrender. It is a singular 
proof of the Mahdi's self-confidence that he ordered the three 
1:housand men to advance into the river, assuring them that 
the water would retreat before them; and it shows how 
fully his followers believed in him, that they went, although 
most of them Avere drowned. A further proof of his confidence 
in his own powers would have been his own effort to cross the 
river in this way; but he did not try that. 

On New Year's Day, 1885, a message was received from Gor- 
don. It ran : 

'* Khartoom all right, 14th December. — C. G. Gordon." 

It was written on a piece of paper no larger than a postage 
stamp, which was put in a quill, and hidden in the messenger'^ 



700 G^ORDON AND THE MAHDf. 

hair. It could have been swallowed if necessary. This gave 
renewed hope to those who were working for his relief. They 
knew that he was absolutely alone among the people of Khar- 
toom, for his companion, Col. Stewart, had been killed some 
time before; they knew that he was not without the gravest 
anticipations of that worst of dangers, treachery, for he had 
recently written so to a friend at Cairo, adding that he feared 
all would be over by Christmas. Lord Wolseley stimulated his 
men by offering a prize to the company that made the best 
time ; and no means to secure haste were neglected. 

We have not time to pause for an account of the battle at 
Abu Klea, which resulted in a victory, with heavy losses, to the 
British. On the next day, four steamers from Khartoom, with 
five hundred of Gordon's men on board, reached this victorious 
force; and thus strengthened, their efforts were redoubled. 

Hopes ran high that Gordon would be rescued. *'A few 
more hours and Gordon will be relieved." With all the 
eagerness that such hopes could inspire, th« detachment of the 
English expedition which had fought and won Abu Klea 
pressed on to Khartoom. As they neared the place, they found 
themselves passing through hostile forces relentlessly pouring 
fire upon them. Point after point they saw was in the hands 
of the enemy: what did it mean? 

They came within eight hundred yards of Khartoom ; then 
they saw thousands of Arabs wildly waving flags, and a storm 
of shot was poured against them. Friends nowhere, enemies 
everywhere, no flags on the buildings — this could mean but one 
thing — Khartoom had fallen. 

^ Even yet there remained one hope for Gordon ; he might yet 
be safe. But the vessels which were foremost in the relief were 
wrecked as they tried to retreat out of the range of the guns, 
and make ready for a fight. They remained three days upon 
the island where they were stranded. Meanwhile all were in 
suspense. Various conflicting reports reached the outside 
world: Gordon had become a Mohammedan, and was now un- 
der the protection of the Mahdi ; he had retreated with some 
Greeks to a church, and was still holding out. At last the 
whole truth became known : the city had been practically in 
the Mahdi's hands for some time, because Gordon's seeming 
adherents were treacherous, as he had feared. The Prophet 
had only awaited the approach of the English troops to strike 
the blow ; and as they drew near, Gordon and his handful of 
faithful followers were ruthlessly massacred. He had failed 
to bring about the peaceful evacuation of the Soudan, because 



GORDON AND THE MAHDI. 



701 



— but the reasons are too many, too- involved, to be stated 
here. We have seen what was the course pursued by the au- 
thorities — is it any wonder that Gordon failed? 




A Head of Hair. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



EMIJ^ PASHA IJV THE EQUATORIAL PBOVIJfCE. 

lEFORE entering upon the history of the expedition 
which Stanley led to the rescue of Emin Pasha, we must 
know something of the man and of the circumstances 
which rendered this expedition necessary. 

Edward Schnitzer, a merchant's son, was born in March, 
1840, in Oppeln, a town of the Prussian province of Silesia. 
Two years later the family removed to Neisse, in the gymnasium 
of which place the boy, when he had attained the proper age, 
received his education. In 1858 he began the study of medi- 
cine at Breslau University, completing his medical training at 
Berlin, where he studied during 1863 and 1864, in the latter 
year receiving his diploma. 

A strong desire for travel and a great love of natural history 
had distinguished him as a boy ; and it was these traits that 
led him to look to a foreign land as his natural sphere. He 
left Berlin at the end of 1864, and went to Turkey. Chance 
led him to Antivari and Scutari, where he obtained the con- 
fidence of Hakki Pasha; he received a post on the staff of 
this official, and accompanied him on his official journeys 
throughout the various provinces of the district under his ju- 
risdiction. In this way Schnitzer became acquainted with Ar- 
menia, Syria, and Arabia, and at length arrived at Constanti- 
nople, where his patron died in 1873. 

Of the two years that succeeded this event, we have no full 
record. In 1875, he paid a visit of some months' duration to 
to his family at Neisse, but before the end of the year decided 
to go to Egypt. In 1876 he entered the Egyptian service as 
Emin Effendi. 

This name of Emin had been chosen by him some time be- 
fore, in pursuance of a settled purpose. That purpose may 
well be stated in the words of the introduction to a German 
702 



EMIN PASHA IN THE EQUATORIAL PROVINCE. 703 

collection of his letters and magazine articles, edited by 
Schweinf urth and Ratzel : 

"From the very first this determined man threw himself 
heart and soul into his work, and as- he sought a sphere of la- 
bor among people of foreign customs and modes of thought, 
he was perfectly willing to give up every external indication 
which might stand in the way of obtaining an unhampered en- 
trance into the Mohammedan world. Far away from large cities 
where, under the guise of fashion, European habits are continu- 
ally undermining the ancient and crumbling customs of Islam, 
and at the same time covering them with a thick varnish, 
there obtains a certain distrust of a solitary European, which 
prevents the intimate relation which should characterize the 
intercourse of a doctor with suffering mankind. The German 
humanitarian believed it only possible to fulfill his ofiace satisfac- 
torily by permitting no external evidence of his Frankish 
origin to appear. The name he chose for this purpose was 
Emin, the Faithful One, and certainly no one has ever proved 
himself more worthy of bearing such a name as the description 
of his character. It would no doubt have been impossible for 
him to have done so much had he retained his German name. 
An extraordinary gift for the acquisition of foreign languages 
lightened his task, for besides German, French, English and 
Italian, he mastered several Slavonic languages, as well as 
Turkish and Arabic. He also began to learn Persian, and who 
knows in how many Central African dialects he may now be at 
home?" 

Nor was the change of name all that marked his adaptation 
to a different mode of life; in 1871 he wrote to his sister: 

*' I have so completely adopted the habits and customs of 
the people that no one believes that an honest German is dis- 
guised behind the Turkish name. Don't be afraid; I have on- 
ly adopted the name, I have not become a Turk." 

Immediately upon joining the Egyptian army, Emin Effendi 
was ordered to report to Gordon Pasha, who was then, it will 
be remembered, governor of the Equatorial Province of Egypt. 
It is a little singular that Gordon never once, in his let- 
ters or journals, makes mention of his since noted subordinate ; 
although the facts show that he reposed great confidence in 
him, and frequently employed him in difficult tasks. 

Although appointed as a medical officer, Gordon frequently 
used Emin Effendi 's services in other ways. In particular, he 
was employed upon two diplomatic missions of considerable 
importance, one to Unyoro and two to Uganda. It was on one 



704 EMIN PASHA IN THE EQUATOKIAL PROVINCE. 

of the last-named missions that he gained the respect of Mtesa 
for the manner in which the Egyptian official preserved the in- 
dependence of the Kiganda emperor. In defiance of positive 
orders from Gordon Pasha, Nur Bey, with a force of three 
hundred Egyptian soldiers, had marched against the capital of 
Uganda, with the firm intention of reducing that country to 
the condition of a dependency of Egypt. Emin Effendi was 
sent to procure the return of these soldiers to their duty, and 
succeeded in accomplishing the difficult task without a shot 
being fired. 

^ When Gordon Pasha was made governor-general of the 
Soudan, Emin Effendi became governor of the Equatorial 
Province; and in 1879 was advanced to the rank of bey. The 
state of his province in 1878, when he entered upon his duties 
as governor, is difficult to describe in a few words. The popu- 
lation consisted of numerous and varied tribes, who, having 
once experienced the beneficent rule of Gordon Pasha, had 
suffered greatly from the oppression and cruelty of his suc- 
cessors. There was also a scattered population throughout 
the country, consisting of former slave-dealers and many of 
their late employes, who were settled in small fortified villages 
over the land, and who had recommenced their nefarious prac- 
tices. The officials, too, for the most part were disreputable 
men; the greater number of them were criminals, who had 
been banished from Egypt, and after undergoing their sen- 
tences had been taken into the employment of the govern- 
ment. The Egyptian soldiers were very unreliable, and their 
acts of oppression were resented by the natives, and tended to 
bring about continual friction between the administration and 
the mass of the population. Added to this, many of the sta- 
tions themselves required rebuilding, and a block in the Nile 
prevented all supplies being sent to the Equatorial Prov- 
ince for the first two years of Emin's-rule. It is not to be won- 
dered at, therefore, that the cares of government rested 
heavily on him. Constant journeys had to be made, daily com- 
plaints arrived from all sides of difficulties between officials 
and native chiefs, and a continual round of stated duties fill- 
ed up his time from sunrise to sunset. Many a man would 
have shrunk from such responsibility, from such unending la- 
bor; not so Emin Effendi. Slowly but firmly, with ever in- 
creasing success, he became master of the situation ; and even 
in a year's time a wonderful change had taken place. Stations 
had been rebuilt, discontent was changed into lawful obedi- 
ence, corruption had been put down, taxation was equalized, 



EMIN PASHA IN THE EQUATORIAL PROVINCE. 705 

and he had already begun the work of clearing his province 
from the slave-dealers who infested it. This was a difficult 
and dangerous undertaking; for they had rooted themselves 
very firmly in the soil, and most of the officials under Emin's 
authority were in full sympathy with them. 

Added to all the labor involved in governing such a prov- 
ince, he conscientiously performed his professional duties; 
and when at Lado, where the chief hospital of the province 
was situated, made his daily rounds as regularly as if he had 
had nothing else to do. 

At the end of 1879 his efforts received recognition in the 
conferme^it of a higher title: Emin Effendi became Emin 
Bey. Although not a soldier by profession, he was now obliged 
to act as commander-in-chief. Regarding this he wrote : 

'*What will they next expect from an M. D. ? I have been 
made a governor, and now I am expected to try and qualify as 
a general in strategy!" 

By the end of 1882, he had the satisfaction of being able 
to report that not only was his province in a state of peace 
and contentment, but that he had entirely banished the slave- 
dealers from his borders. He had also got rid of many of the 
Egyptian soldiers, replacing them by natives whom he had 
trained to arms. He had added large districts to his province, 
not by the sword, but by personal negotiations with native 
chiefs. , To all this must be added the cultivation of cotton, 
indigo, coffee and rice, the establishment of a regular week- 
ly post among all his stations (itself no poor indication 
of the advance of civilization), the re-building of near- 
ly all his stations, the construction of better and more 
permanent roads, the introduction of camels, and the trans- 
port of goods by oxen; added to these improvements, was 
one which was especially appreciated by the Egyptian govern- 
ment: when Emin had become ruler of this province, the 
annual deficit was something over thirty thousand pounds, 
but in 1882 there was a surplus of eight thousand. This was 
not due to additional taxes being levied, for the taxes were, 
if anything, decreased; but to the most rigid and unwearied 
economy. on the part of the administration. 

This statement of the financial improvement shows better 
than anything else could, what is the commercial value of the 
Province of the Soudan; for during the six years from 1878 
to 1884, but nine steamers ascended the Nile to Lado, and but 
six of these carried supplies. The increase was, therefore, a 
genuine one, and not due to help from the outer world. 



illiillllllBI 



liiliiiiiiiiiiiiii 




EMIN PASHA IN THE EQUATORIAL PROVINCE. 707 

But just as his original province was reduced to something 
very like order, other difficulties awaited him. Gessi Pasha, 
who had been governor of the Bahr-el-Ghazal province, was 
recalled in 1882, and Lupton Bey, an Englishman who had been 
Emin's lieutenant, was made governor. Three portions of this 
province were, however, transferred to the jurisdiction of Emin 
Bey. He at once engaged in the arduous task of freeing these new 
districts from the active slave-traffic that was going on in them. 
He was completely successful, and it was only after the Mah- 
di's rebellion that he was compelled to withdraw his troops 
from the outlying districts, where the slave-trade then began 
once more. 

But the empty honor of a higher title was about all the rec- 
ognition with which his efforts met. In a letter addressed to 
Schweinfurth, and written early in 1883, Emin Bey says: 

"It seems as if the government did not value this province 
much; for instance, during the year 1882, only one steamer 
was sent here — ^that which brought me from Khartoom. This 
steamer, too, carried no goods, my petition for a larger boat 
to take goods having been refused. The prohibition against 
merchants coming -here was also retained, in spite of my earn- 
est appeals that it might be annulled; therefore, ever since the 
December of 1881, the officials have been absolutely cut off 
from all supplies, and have consequently experienced greater 
distress than in the year 1878-9, when the river was closed. 
Gordon, however, allowed merchants to come here, for he 
clearly saw how absurd such a measure was as a preventive 
against the export of slaves from this country. Well, the leg- 
islators in Khartoom, foreigners and Arabs, — may understand 
these things better than one like myself, who is not a pasha; 
but I can tell you one thing, and that is, that under the pres- 
ent system they may quietly draw their pens through the names 
of our provinces in a couple of years. It is so ridiculous to 
dream of stopping the slave-trade in the Soudan by setting up 
a slave-department in Khartoom with branch offices ; to try 
and tie up our districts with the red tape of Egyptian bureau- 
cratism is an idea that makes one's hair stand on end. * * *: 
My position is not an enviable one, as I have already hinted, 
for our province has received absolutely no support at present. 
We certainly cannot blame officials who have been left a whole 
year without supplies if they do their duty reluctantly and ask 
for their discharge at every opportunity." 

Emin Bey had visited Khartoom in the first half of 1882, to 
protest against the neglect from which his province suffered 
45 • 



708 EMIN PASHA IN THE EQUATORIAL PROVINCE. 

SO severely ; but the only answer vouchsafed was an order to 
return and develop the resources of Equatorial Africa. It 
would seem that the Egyptian officials at that point were only 
anxious to get rid of him; they certainly appear to have had. 
no idea of sending him supplies any more regularly than pre- 
viously. Seven months after the date of the letter from which 
the above quotation was taken, we find him bitterly complain- 
ing of their neglect to the same friend : 

"Of course the steamer has not yet come, though I urgently 
requested that it might be sent at the end of August. All our 
stores are of course quite exhausted, and we are vegetating, 
so to speak, from day to day, and hoping for better times. 
Will they ever come?" 

The end of November, 1883, found him still waiting for the 
steamer, though, he wrote, ''we seem to be forgotten in Khar- 
toom or consigned to perdition." His pitiable condition be- 
came known to the natives; and the chief Alloron, whom he 
had taken considerable pains to conciliate, and who had hith- 
erto seemed inclined to be friendly enough, invited the chiefs 
of Belinian and Lokoya to make a combined attack on Lado, 
as there were but few soldiers and no ammunition there. The 
garrison managed to hold out, but the governor considered 
that it was very doubtful if they could resist a combined attack 
of all the Bari. 

It was the time of the Mahdi's greatest successes; Hicks 
Pasha had fallen, with his army; never before was an army so 
totally defeated; never since has there been such a bloody 
massacre of the vanquished. Lupton Bey, Emin's nearest 
neighbor, had been threatened by the Mahdi's troops; his men 
left him in the lurch, and surrendering his province, he wrote 
to Emin that he was going to Kordofan. Emin received a dis- 
patchf rom the Emir Keremallah, commanding the Mahdi's army 
on the Bahr-el-Ghazal, summoning him peremptorily to join 
him at Assouan with his men, and to submit to the Prophet. 
The whole of the Soudan had done so, Khartoom was besieged. 
Hicks and all the higher officials had been slain; and if Emin 
delayed, all his communications by land and water would be 
cut off, so he had better make haste. 

For fourteen months he had had no communication with 
Khartoom, or news from there; the magazines were quite 
empty of cloths, soaps, coffee, etc. ; and although he had re- 
peatedly asked for rifles and ammunition enough for his men, 
he had not received them. The whole surrounding country 
was overrun by the savage horde which followed the Mahdi, 



EMIN PASHA IN THE EQUATOKIAL PROVINCE. 709 

■while Emin's own soldiers were scattered over a wide extent 
of territory, and their withdrawal must be accomplished with 
the greatest circumspection. 

A council was held, and the officials under Emin advised 
submission. The next question was, who should act as embas- 
sadors. Emin was selected as the head of the legation — an 
embarrassing choice, for it was imprudent to refuse; while if 
he went, he would leave anarchy behind him, and would never 
be allowed to return. He succeeded, however, in getting the 
mission off without going himself. 

But new difficulties arose : a subordinate who had long been 
trusted, and whose letters were full of expressions of devotion 
and assurances of his undeviating faithfulness to the govern- 
ment, had been collecting the natives from various points, had 
pillaged the magazines accessible to him, and had invited the 
few Soudanese soldiers and officers in Makraka, at which place 
Emin had put him at the head of affairs, to break their alle- 
giance. Meeting with a refusal, he started off with his follow- 
ers, and began plundering the country. How far his rebellion 
would go, was a difficult problem to solve; and Emin feared 
for the faithfulness of the natives in his camp, who had con- 
nections with those in the insurgent's force. Fortunately, 
however, the rebel was killed before his success had become so 
marked as to attract these to his standard. 

During this time of trouble and perplexity, Emin was fortu- 
nate enough to have a companion of his own race. Dr. Jun- 
ker, who had some time before passed through his province on 
his way south, and had visited Monbottu, Uganda, and many 
other famous countries, had now returned thus far on his way 
back to Europe. Captain Casati, an Italian traveler, had also 
returned from Monbottu, and was at Makraka, with which com- 
munication was easy enough. 

But the end was not yet. The rebellious forces increased, 
it seemed, daily ; and December 2, there was a hard-fought 
battle near Amadi, lasting from early morning till noon, in 
which twelve of Emin's men were killed and eighteen wound- 
ed. His men had stormed the camp of the enemy, and spread 
great destruction among them ; but they were forced to give 
way on account of the superior numbers of the negroes. They 
succeeded, however, in carrying off their wounded to Amadi, 
while the enemy, who had lost many men, retired sullenly from 
their vicinity. A few weeks later, the men in Bor were nearly ex- 
terminated in a foraging raid, and Emin was obliged to send men, 
ammunition and corn for their relief. Reinforcements were al- 



710 EMIN PASHA IN THE EQUATORIAL PROVINCE. 

SO dispatched to Amadi. Bat this place was under the com- 
mand of men who proved unfit for the post; and in a very 
few days the station was surrounded on all sides, and cut off 
even from the river; and then the brave soldiers had to en- 
dure days of great hardship. Reinforcements came too late to 
break through the blockade. The soldiers repeatedly urged 
their officers to make a sortie, but the latter always hung back, 
probably intending, Emin considered afterward, to yield to the 
enemy. At last the men became desperate, and led by six 
brave officers, left the zeriba against the will of their superiors, 
cut their way through the enemy, inflicting heavy loss up- 
on them, and made their road safely to Makraka. Emin 
learned later that the commandant and two of his officers had 
actually planned a surrender; his comment is applicable to 
more cases than the present. 

''Certainly the incapacity, and often the downright malevo- 
lence, of our own officials have played a great part in all the 
misfortunes that have hitherto befallen us. Disobedience is 
the order of the day, and everyone seeks to protect his own 
interests only." 

April 1, 1885, the civil and military officers in Lado petition- 
ed Emin Bey that all the stations should be given up, and that 
they should restrict themselves to the line from Lado to Kiri. 
Such a suggestion was really suicidal, for they would then be 
confined to the most unfruitful part of the province, and con- 
sequently thrown into the very jaws of famine; but Emin was 
unable to resist their demands, and giving an apparent con- 
sent, issued the necessary orders. 

All this time, Emin had been receiving a periodical sum- 
mons from Keremallah to submit himself to theMahdi; the 
mission which had been dispatched with the letter had not 
reached its destination, owing to the quarrels among the mem- 
bers of it, and their lack of energy; Emin did nothing to pro- 
mote unity, or to incite them to greater exertions; and he 
seems to have thought that if these summonses relieved the sur- 
charged bosom of Keremallah, they did him (Emin) no harm. 
In April, 1885, however, along with the usual invitation to join 
the faithful, came a letter with news that not only grieved him 
for the fate of his old commander, but plunged him in yet 
deeper anxiety for his own future : Khartoom had been taken 
by storm, and every one in it slain except the women and chil- 
dren. Gordon, the enemy of God, had refused to surrender, 
and he and his men had fallen ; the Mahdi had lost but ten 
men. The letter, which was addressed to Keremallah, con- 



EMIN PASHA IN THE EQUATORIAL PROVINCE. 711 

eluded by .urging that officer to act in a similar manner in the 
part of the country where he held command. 

In accordance with the resolve to concent-rate the forces on 
the line from Lado to Kiri, Emin now made every effort to se- 
cure a sufficient supply of food in that part of the country ; 
and this was no easy task. The story has not yet been fully 
and connectedly told; only the main outlines are given in his 
letters to his friends; but the colors are none of the brightest. 
Wars and rumors of wars, disasters of every kind, threatening 
famine and treachery — what more of trouble can be imagined. 

In the midst of all his uncertainty as to what would come 
next, what his government expected of him, what they could 
do for him (although he had no reason to hope that they would 
do anything), and what was going on in the outside world, 
came news from that world. The last letter which he had re- 
ceived from Europe had reached him in January, 1883; early 
the next month, he had received one from Khartoom; since 
that time, there had been literally nothing; the news that 
Khartoom had fallen had been the boast of his enemies. In 
February, 1886, just three years after this last communication 
of his superiors at Khartoom, a packet of letters reached him. 
There were letters from Dr. Junker explaining everything in 
detail, an official dispatch from Cairo, and two packets of Reu- 
ter's telegrams, extending from January 1, 1884, to Novem- 
ber 2, 1885. 

'' The Egyptian dispatch, written in French, informs me that 
the government is unable assist us, for the Soudan is to be 
given up; gives me cm-te hlanche to take any measures I 
please, should I decide to leave the country, and further, au- 
thorizes me to draw on the English consul-general at Zanzibar. 
It is a cool business dispatch, in the fullest sense of the word, 
not acknowledging by a single word the cares I have borne for 
three years, my fights with Danagla and negroes, my hunger 
and nakedness, nor giving me a word of encouragement in the 
superhuman task of leading home the soldiers, which now lies 
before me. However, I am accustomed to this sort of thing. 
In the years 1878-80, during which the river was blocked for 
twent3^-two months, I held the country and people together, 
and showed for the first time that we could maintain ourselves 
by our own strength without any supplies from Khartoom, and 
not only did I spare the government expense at this time, but 
also proved pra-ctically that the province could, under our 
honest administration, yield a surplus, after providing for its 
own expenses. I began to plant rice and sugar, to set in or- 



712 EMIN PASHA IN THE EQUATOKIAL PEOVINCE. 

der the administration, and to extend the boundaries of the 
province. Yet who has given me a good word? Passons la- 
dessiisl The late Sirdar Ekrem Omar Pasha once said to me 
that in the East one must have powerful patrons, plenty of 
money, or a pretty wife, in order to obtain acknowledgments 
of one's services. Can he have been right? * * * In 
Egypt and elsewhere they have certainly no notion of the dif- 
ficulties of my situation. They simply suggest to me the way 
to Zanzibar, just as they would a walk to Shubra. You will 
have perceived from the information contained in the forego- 
ing leaves that I cannot depend with any certainty on my own 
officers. The greater part of my men, particularly the officers, 
have no desire to leave this country. * * The greater part 
of our soldiers, coming, as they do, from our own districts, 
and having never seen Egypt, naturally prefer to remain here 
and live as their fathers did, while the Negro soldier sent hith- 
er from Egypt, whether he be an officer or a private soldier, 
has forgotten in the lapse of years what strict discipline means, 
and, further, has adapted himself to the country to such a de- 
gree that it has quite taken the place of his native land. 
Each has his family, often a very large one, if all its depend- 
ents are counted, and each has his couple of goats or cows. 
Every one knows that the journey is long and the toils great, 
that many days of hunger and hardship lie before him, and that 
when he arrives in Egypt the loose bonds of discipline will be 
tightened again. * * * * Then consider how little atten- 
tion has been shown to our soldiers from Khartoom, how they 
have been left without supplies, without clothing, without 
pay. * * * Besides, it is quite impossible to make a Soud- 
anese understand why the government has given up the Sou- 
dan, and he refuses in so many words to believe that a horde of 
Danagla is able to crush a well-trained army. Even now it is 
believed here that the news of General Hicks' defeat in Kor- 
dofan is a fiction. * * * But something worse may hap- 
pen, for when the people are once convinced of theimiDotence 
of the government, universal anarchy may ensue, and the de- 
struction of all the white men may be the first result. I do not 
see how I am to get out of this dilemma. God help me !" 

The nature of the difficulties in the way of obeying the sug- 
gestion of the Egyptian government to leave the country may 
be briefly stated: on the north were the hordes of the Mahdi, 
of whom the last news heard was that he had taken Khartoom 
by storm ; on the south was Uganda, then at war with Unyoro, 
and ruled by a king capricious and cruel; it appeared that 



EMIN PASHA IN THE EQUATORIAL PROVINCE. 713 

either way, death awaited him and those who should accom- 
pany him. 

It must be remembered that Mtesa no longer ruled in Ugan- 
da; had he lived, Emin would perhaps have found his diffi- 
culties less; for the great emperor, who proudly claimed to 
be the friend of Speke and of Stanley, had learned to respect 
most heartily the brave and conscientious German physician. 
But Mtesa had gone the way of all living, more than a year 
before the time of which we write; and his son Mwanga reign- 
ed in his stead. Cruel and capricious as his father in his na- 
ture, the younger man was without that intellectual ability 
which had served to make his father both respected and fear- 
ed. Then, too, he had never been impressed, as Mtesa had 
been, with the idea of the advantages to be derived from the 
religions of the more civilized parts of the world. Mtesa had 
been impressed by the arts of the Arabs, and had lent a will- 
ing ear to a teacher of their faith; he was even more affected 
with admiration of the white man, and listened with equal 
eagerness when Stanley told the story of the Cross, the white 
man's faith. Whether he was really impressed by the earnest- 
ness of his teacher or not, is a question which need not here be 
discussed ; he certainly recognized the advantages of civiliza- 
tion, and considered them all due to Christianity; he seemed 
to Stanley a promising proselj'te, and the ready writer penned 
a powerful appeal to the people of Christendom for mission- 
aries to be sent to Uganda. Catholics and Protestants alike 
responded; the Church Missionary Society sent out a well- 
equipped party in 1876, four of the party arriving at the south 
end of Victoria Nyanza in 1877; Roman Catholic missionaries 
reached Uganda in 1878. Much translation work has been 
accomplished, and the mission-school has been resorted to 
by large numbers, many of whom have become Christians. 
This was not accomplished without many discouragements ; 
the greatest of which was the murder of two of the Church 
Missionary Society's envoys at Ukewere. 

After Mtesa's death, Mwanga tortured and burned many of 
the Christians, and ordered the murder of Bishop Hanning- 
ton on the frontier; but notwithstanding this, there are still 
about forty-five communicants, two hundred Protestant 
Christians, and one hundred catechumens. Statistics of the 
success attained by the Catholic missionaries are unavailable. 

It may be remarked here that Emin Pasha has always ex- 
pressed a cordial sympathy with mission work in Africa. How 
cordial this sympathy has been, may be judged from the fact 



714 EMIN PASHA IN THE EQUATORIAL PROVINCE. 

that he not only rendered material assistance to the above- 
mentioned party of the Church Missionary Society, but offer- 
ed that association exceptional advantages if it would only es- 
tablish a station in his province. He promised to support a 
party there for three years at his own expense ; but none was 
sent. 

Emin's difficulties continued for a while; although the de- 
feat of the Mahdi rendered danger from that quarter less im- 
minent. Letters continued to reach the outside world at in- 
tervals for a year after the date which we have mentioned ; 
the last one being dated April 17, 1887. In it he says : 

" On the 9th of this month Mr. Mackay had the goodness 
to send me some English newspapers, from which I learn 
that it is proposed to send us help. You can imagine your- 
self better than I can tell you that the heartfelt sympathy 
which has been expressed for me and my people in England, 
and the many friends we appear to have made, have givea me 
extreme pleasure, and have richly repaid me for many of the 
sorrows and hardships I have undergone. I could never have 
believed that I, a stranger, and my poor people, could have 
received such generous thoughts, and that any. one would be 
ready to make such sacrifices for us. If, however, the people 
in Great Britain think that as soon as Stanley or Thomson 
comes I shall return with them, they greatly err. I have pass- 
ed twelve years of my life here, and would it be right of me 
to desert my post as soon as the opportunity for escape pre- 
sented itself? I shall remain with my people until I see per- 
fectly clearly that both their future and the future of our coun- 
try is safe. 

"The work that Gordon paid for with his blood, I w^ill strive 
to carry on, if not with his energy and genius, still according 
to his intentions and in his spirit. When my lamented chief 
placed the government of this country in my hands, he wrote 
to me: 'I appoint you for civilization and progress' sake.' I 
have done my best to justify the trust which he had in me, and 
that I have to some extent been successful and have won the 
confidence of the natives is proved by the fact that I and my 
handful of people have held our own up to the present day in 
the midst of hundreds and thousands of natives. I remain here 
the last and only representative of Gordon's staff. It there- 
fore falls to me, and is my bounden duty, to follow up the 
road he showed us. Sooner or later a bright future must dawn 
for these countries ; sooner or later these people will be drawn 
into the circle of the ever advancing civilized world. Eor 



EMIN PASHA IN THE EQUATORIAL PROVINCE. 715 

twelve long years I have striven and toiled, and sown the seeds 
for future harvests — laid the foundation stones for future 
buildings. Shall I now give up the work because a way may 
soon open to the coast? Neyerl" 

Having thus briefly summed up the work of Emin Pasha in 
Equatorial Africa, the difficulties he had undergone, and the 
trials out of which he had come morally victorious, and seen 
how deep was his attachment to his people, we turn to the ef- 
forts which Stanley was making for his rescue. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



STAJ^LEY LEADS THE EMIX PASHA BELIEF 
EXPEDITION. 

HE ways of the British government in its dealings with 
Africa appear to be past finding out; if "Conservatives 
could not sufficiently blame the Liberal Ministry for 
failing to rescue Gordon by timely effort, Liberals had 
an opportunity to criticise their opponents for a similar omis- 
sion when the question of relieving Emin Pasha became an 
important one. As the situation became better known to the 
minds of the civilized world, it was realized that to a consider- 
able extent England was to blame for the fact that the learned 
German had been placed in this perilous position; and the 
general verdict was that England was bound to rescue Emin 
and his fellow-prisoners, for such in truth they must be con- 
sidered. 

Dr. K. W. Felkin, a personal friend of Emin Pasha's, seems 
to have been the first to agitate the matter, by publishing let- 
ters received from him saying that he still held the Equatorial 
Province, and requesting help to enable him to maintain his post, 
interest was thus, for almost the first time, aroused in Emin 
Pasha; for hitherto his reputation in Europe had been mainly 
confined to scientific circles, and excited and fed by his con- 
tributions to various German periodicals of high rank among 
students of natural history and allied sciences. 

It was seen that Emin Pasha was the heir of Gordon ; and 
the feeling that Gordon had been left to die, and that this man 
was endeavoring to carry out his work, added greatly to the 
interest which the English-speaking peoples felt for the be- 
leaguered governor. Dr. Felkin proposed the organization of 
a relief expedition; the question was taken up by the Eoyal 
Scottish Geographical Society, which petitioned the govern- 
ment to assist in equipping one. The government hung back, 
716 



STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 717 

however, from this proposition ; and finally gave its counten- 
ance to the efforts of Sir William Mackinnon to organize an 
Emin Relief Expedition. For some political reason, the gov- 
ernment convinced itself that it could not directly engage in 
the work; but it did everything short of this. 

Sir William Mackinnon had had dealings with the sultan of 
Zanzibar which gave him much influence on the east coast, 
and similar relations with some of the ofiicials of the Congo 
Free State enabled him to wield power on the west coast. 
A hint to the Eg} ptian government that this work was in all 
but name supported by the Queen's Ministry, produced a con- 
tribution of ten thousand pounds ; and private subscriptions 
doubled this amount. Many of these contributions came from 
eminent Scotchmen; the Royal Geographical Society gave a 
thousand pounds, and the leading new^spapers contributed lib- 
erally on condition of being allowed to publish Stanley's let- 
ters. 

For of course there could be but one leader for such an expedi- 
tion; no other name could have carried the same assurance of 
ultimate success ; Stanley would rescue Emin if alive, or bring 
back the news.if, like Gordon, he had died before help could 
reach him. When Mackinnon first wrote to the Foreign 
Office, Stanley was arranging for a lecture tour in the United 
States, which would have netted him $50,000 within a year. 
This, however, was readily given up, and Stanley cablegrammed 
that he would sail at once for England. 

• He had already examined the question of routes, of which 
there were four possible. Of these four, many persons con- 
sidered that by the east coast and Uganda the shortest, quick- 
est, and therefore most practicable ; but Stanley decided that 
this would be too likely to endanger the lives of the mission- 
aries in the hands of King Mwanga, and that the Congo route 
was therefore preferable, although longer and more difficult 
in many respects. 

Honors were showered upon Stanley before he left England. 
Among other entertainments tendered him, was a banquet 
given by Sir William Mackinnon, at which Stanley expressed 
his ideas and plans as fully as possible under such conditions. 
Reference to this speech will be made hereafter. 

Immediately before his departure from London, Mr. Stanley 
was presented with that highest honor which a municipal- 
ity has to bestow, the freedom of the City of London. The 
document attesting his privileges, was, as usual, inclosed in a 
beautifully chased casket. 



STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 719 

The expedition was to be organized at Zanzibar, and go 
thence around the Cape to the mouth of the Congo. Besides 
the name of Stanley, those of Major Barttelot, Captain Nelson, 
Lieutenant Stairs, Dr. Parke, Dr. Bonny, Mr. Jephson, Mr. Ja- 
mieson, Mr. Ward, and Mr. Rose Troup have been prominent 
in connection with this expedition. The idea had first been 
broached during the latter half of 1886 ; and by the third week 
in January of 1887, all was ready, and Mr. Stanley left London 
for Zanzibar. He arrived at Alexandria January 27, and went 
on to Cairo immediately. Here he had interviews w^th the 
khedive ; and here also he met Dr. Junker, who was on his way 
home from the Soudan, and who was able to give him some 
useful information. 

Arrived at Zanzibar, no time w^as lost in securing all the 
help possible. Besides the leader and the nine Europeans 
who have been named, the expedition consisted of sixty-one 
Soudanese, thirteen Somalis, three interpreters, six hundred 
and twenty Zanzibaris, the famous Tippu Tib and four hun- 
dred and seven of his people — a total of one thousand one 
hundred and fifteen souls. It may be noted en passant^ that 
the contingent furnished by Tippu Tib included thirty of his 
wives. This is a little fact not furnished by the graver his- 
tories, but discovered and made public by an enterprising 
newspaper. 

Banana Point was reached March 18, 1887. Here steamers 
of smaller size were chartered to take the party up to the limit 
of navigation on the lower river, beyond Avhich lie two hundred 
miles of rough water, rapids and cataracts, which would have 
to be passed by land. The voyage thus far had been attended 
by remarkable good fortune; for although on expeditions from 
Zanzibar to the Congo the usual rate of reduction from the 
numbers of those physically fit is ten per cent., in this case it 
was one and a half per cent, at the utmost. Three men had 
died, and they would have to leave a dozen sick behind 
them; but this was all. It was a wonderful immunity from 
sickness. 

But what had been thus far plain sailing and easy work be- 
gan to show its difficulties. Stanley writes : 

" At Boma the committee in charge of the administration of 
the Congo Free State came on board, and Lieutenant Valcke, 
the president, informed me that a serious famine existed as far 
as Stanley Pool. He also said that the Stanley steamer is at 
present hauled up for repairs. You can imagine, then, that I 
shall have some work to do to reach Emin Pasha. We have to 



STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 721 

march through a country suffering from famine, but we shall 
find means to live somehow. We shall have to collect trans- 
port steamers together and repair those in need of repair, and 
we shall manage this somehow. The refusal of the Baptist 
mission to lend their steamer Peace is a great disappointment, 
and a poor return for the services I have- rendered them in the 
past. 

*' My thoughts at leisure moments are fixed, as you may sup- 
pose, upon this important question, and I shall know no hap- 
piness until I am on terra firma on the Upper Congo." 

Tippu Tib had contracted to furnish a certain number of 
men to the expedition ; and Stanley decided to leave a por- 
tion of his forces with the greater part of the stores, to wait 
for these assistants, while he himself, with another portion of 
his men, pushed on toward the east. It will be well, perhaps, 
to state definitely the strength and duties of the rear column, 
before attempting to follow the steps of the advance. We 
quote from two letters of Stanley's: 

" I had established an intrenched and palisaded camp at 
Yambuya, on the Lower Aruwimi, just below the first rapids. 
Major Edmund Barttelot, being senior of those officers with 
me, Avas appointed commandant. Mr. J. S. Jamieson, a volun- 
teer, was associated with him. On the arrival of all the men 
and goods from Bolobo and Stanley Pool, the ofliicers still be- 
lieved Messrs. Troup, Ward and Bonny were to report to Ma- 
jor Barttelot for duty. But no important action or movement 
(according to letter of instructions given by me to the major 
before leaving) was to be made without consulting with 
Messrs. Jamieson, Troup and Ward. The columns under Major 
Barttelot' s orders mustered two hundred and fifty-seven 
men. * * * * 

" I must say a word about poor Barttelot. He was a major 
in the British army. His very manner indicated him to be of a 
gallant, frank, daring, and perhaps dangerous nature if aroused. 
His friends who introduced him to me in London spoke of him 
in some such terms. They named the campaigns he had 
been in, and what personal services he had performed. As 
I looked at the major's face I read courage, frankness, com- 
bativeness in large quantity, and I said to these friends, cour- 
age and boldness are common characteristics among British 
officers, but of the most valuable quality for an expedition 
like this I have not heard anything. I hope you can add 'for- 
bearance.' 

" The only quality perhaps in which he was deficient was 



722 STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 

that of forbearance, though I promised myself that he 
should have little chance to exercise combativeness. Yet 
you must not think this was a defect in him. It was merely 
the results of high spirits, youth, and a good constitution. He 
was just pining for work. I promised him he should have so 
much of it that he would plead for rest. But, unfortunately, 
want of sufficient vessels to float the expedition at onetime on 
the Upper Congo compelled me to leave about one-half of my 
stores in charge of Mr. Troup at Stanley Pool, and one hun- 
dred and twenty-six men under Messrs. Ward and Bonny at 
Bolobo, and as the major was senior officer, and Mr. Jamieson 
was an African traveler of experience, after due consideration 
it was conclusive that no other two men could be fitter for the 
post of guarding the camp at Yambuya. With me for the ad- 
vance column were Lieutenant Stairs, R. E., very intelligent 
and able. Captain Nelson, of the Colonial Forces, Mounteney 
Jephson, a civilian, to whom work was as much a vital neces- 
sity as bread, and Surgeon T. H. Parke, of the A. M. D., a 
brilliant operator and physician. All were equally ignorant of 
Kiswahili, the language of the Zanzibaris, as Major Barttelot 
and Mr. Jamieson. The only two who knew the language were 
Messrs. Ward and Troup, and they were not due at Yambuya 
until the middle of August." 

This ignorance of the language of most of his men left Ma- 
jor Barttelot at the mercy of his Syrian interpreter, Assad 
Ferran, and Mr. Stanley afterward thought that he had reason 
to suspect that the man interpreted falsely. Of the conse- 
quences, however, more hereafter. 

It will not be out of place to give some of the instructions 
which were given for the guidance of this rear column, as they 
afford us a clear view of Stanley's plans and intentions. 

In the written instructions to Major Barttelot, June 24th, 
Yambuya stockaded camp, paragraph 3 reads as follows: 

*' It is the non-arrival of the goods from Stanley Pool and 
the men from Bolobo which compels me to appoint you com- 
mander of this post. But as I shall shortly expect the arrival 
of a strong re-inforcement of men (Tippu Tib's people) great- 
ly exceeding the advance force — which must at all hazards 
proceed and push on to the rescue of Emin Pasha — I hope you 
will not be detained longer than a few days after the departure 
of the Stanley on her final return to Stanley Pool in August 
(say August 18, 1887, as the steamer did arrive in time, Aug- 
ust 14th). 

Paragraph 5. " The interests now intrusted to you areof vi-. 



STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 723 



tal importance to this expedition. All the men (Zanzibaris) 
who shortly will be under your command will consist of more 




STANLEY INSTRUCTINU MA J. BARTTELOT. 

{D?'awn by Mr. Wm^d, Artist with the Expedition.) 

than a third of the expedition. The goods are needed for cur- 
rency through the regions beyond the lakes. The loss of these 

^6 



724 STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 

men and goods would be certain ruin to us, and the advance 
force itself would need to solicit relief in its turn." 

Paragraph 6. ** Our course from here will be true east, or 
by magnetic compass, E. by S. The paths may not exactly 
lead in that direction at times,, but it is the S. W. corner of 
Lake Albert near or at Kavalli that is our destination. * * 
* * Our after conduct must be guided by what we shall 
learn of the intentions of Emin Pasha." 

Paragraph 7. *' We shall endeavor by blazing trees and cut- 
ting saplings to leave sufficient traces of the route taken by 
us." 

Paragraph 8. "It may happen should Tippu Tib send the 
full complement of men promised (600 men), and if the 126 
men have arrived by the Stanley, that you will feel competent 
to march your column along the route pursued by me. In that 
event, which would be most desirable, we should meet be- 
fore many days. You will find our bomas, or zeribas, very 
good guides." 

Paragraph 9. "It may happen also that Tippu Tib has sent 
some men, but he has not sent enough. In that event- you will 
of course use your discretion as to what goods you can dis- 
pense with to enable you to march." 

(List of classes of goods, according to their importance, 
here given, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, the highest numbers to be 
first thrown away. ) 

" If you still cannot march, then it would b^ better to make 
double marches than throw too many things away — if you 
prefer marching (moving on) to staying for our arrival." 

" These were supplemented by verbal explanations giving 
permission to march the very next day after the contingent 
from Bolobo had arrived — if he could prepare his goods in 
time — urgently impressiug him not to place any stress on the 
promises of Tippu Tib, if he failed to make an appearance 
within a reasonable time of the promised date. His carriers 
were not absolutely necessary, but they w^ould serve to keep 
our men fresh for other journeys. If Tippu Tib came, why, 
well and good; if he did not come, then be indifferent; adapt 
your goods to your carriers, and march on after us. The soon- 
er you can march, the sooner we will meet. If Tippu Tib 
broke his written agreement made with me before the consul, 
his promises to you would be still more unreliable. You last 
saw him, he promised to come within nine days ; that date will 
be over the day after to-morrow. If he comes any time before 
the arrival of the Stanley, all will be well ; but if he does not 



. STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 725 

come by that time, it will prove that the man never intended 
to come. Don't bother your mind about him, but come along 
with what you can — amm-unition, beads, and cloth, private 
luggage, and European provisions. If you make double marches 
of four or six miles a day, you will do very well, etc. 

" The major rose up in his frank, impetuous manner, and 
said: 




Tippu Tib. 

" ' By George, that's the style. I will stop very few days 
indeed after the people from Bolobo come up. I wouldn't 
stop longer for anything.' 

'* The advance column, consisting of three hundred and 
eighty-nine officers and men, set out from Yambuya June 28, 
1887. The first day we followed the river-bank, marched 




726-7 



FIGHT AT AVISIBBA: LIEl 

{From a Sketch by a 




URS WOUNDED B\ aN aRKOW. 

nber of the Expedition.) 



728 STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 

twelve miles, and arrived in the large district of Yankonde. 
At our approach the natives set fire to their villages, and un- 
der cover of the smoke attacked the pioneers who were clear- 
ing the numerous obstructions they had planted before the 
first village. The skirmish lasted fifteen minutes. The second 
day we followed a pkth leading inland but trending east. We 
followed this path for five days through a dense population. 

** Every art known to native minds for molesting, impeding, 
and wounding an enemy was resorted to ; but we passed through 
without the loss of a man. Perceiving that the path«was tak- 
ing us too far from our course, we cut a north-easterly track, 
and x'eached the river again on the 5th of July. From this 
date until the 18th of October we followed the left bank of the 
Aruwimi. After seventeen days of continuous marching we 
halted one day for rest. On the twenty-fourth day from Yam- 
buya we lost two men by desertion. In the month of July we 
made four halts only. On the 1st of August the first death oc- 
curred, which was from dysentery; so that for thirty-four 
days our course had been singularly successful. But as we 
now entered a wilderness, which occupied us nine days in 
marching through it, our sufferings began to multiply, and 
several deaths occurred. The river at this time was of great 
use to us; our boat and several canoes relieved the wearied 
and sick of their loads, so that progress, though not brilliant 
as during the first month, was still steady. 

"On the 13th of August we arrived at Avisibba. The natives 
made a bold front; we lost five men through poisoned arrows : 
and to our great grief Lieutenant Stairs was wounded just be- 
low the heart; but though he suffered greatly for nearly a 
month, he finally recovered. On the 15th Mr. Jephson, in 
command of the land party, led his men inland, became con- 
fused and lost his way. We were not reunited until the 21st. 

"On the 25th of August we arrived in the district of Airjeli. 
Opposite our camp was the mouth of the tributary Nepoko. 

" On the 31st of August we met for the first time a party of 
Manyuema belonging to the caravan of Ugarrowwa, alias 
Uledi Balyuz, who turned out to be a former tent-boy of 
Speke's. Our misfortunes began from this date, for I had 
taken the Congo route to avoid the Arabs, that they might not 
tamper with my men and tempt them to desert by their pres- 
ents. Tenty-six men deserted within three days of this unfor- 
tunate meeting. 

"On the 16th of September we arrived at a camp opposite 
the station of Ugarrowwa's. As food was very scarce owing to 



STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 729 

his having devastated an immense region, we halted but one day 
near him. Such friendly terms as I could make with such a 
man I made, and left fifty-six men with him. All the Somalis 
preferred to rest at Ugarrowwa's to the continuous marching. 
Five So.udanese were also left. It would have been certain 
death for all of them to have accompanied us. At Ugarrow- 
wa's they might possibly recover. Five dollar's a month per 
head was to be paid to this man for their food. 

" On September 18th we left Ugarrowwa's, and on the 18th 
of October entered the settlement occupied by Kilinga-Longa, 
a Zanzibar! slave belonging to Abed bin Salim, an old Arab 
whose bloody deeds are recorded in ' The Congo and the 
Founding of Its Free State.' This proved an awful month to 
us; not one member of the expedition, white or black, will 
ever forget it. The advance numbered two hundred and seventy- 
three souls on leaving Ugarrowwa's, because out of three hun- 
dred and eighty-nine we had lost sixty-six men by desertion and 
death between Yambuya and Ugarrowwa's, and had left fifty-six 
men sick in the Arab station. On reaching Kilinga-Longa's we 
discovered that we had lost fifty-five men by starvation and 
desertion. We had lived principally on wild fruit, fungi, and 
a large, flat, bean-shaped nut. The slaves of Abed bin Salim 
did their utmost to ruin the expedition short of open hostili- 
ties. They purchased rifles, ammunition, clothing, so that 
when we left their station we were beggared and our men 
were absolutely naked. We were so weak physically that we 
were unable to carry the boat and about seventy loads of 
goods; we therefore left these goods and boat at Kilinga- 
Longa's under Surgeon Parke and Captain Nelson, the latter 
of whom was unable to march, and after twelve days' march 
we arrived at a native settlement called Ibwiri. Between Ka- 
linga-Longa's and Ibwiri our condition had not improved. The 
Arab devastation had reached within a few miles of Ibwiri — a 
devastation so complete that there was not one native hutstand- 
ing between Ugarrowwa's and Ibwiri, and what had not been de- 
stroyed by the slaves of Ugarrowwa's and Abed bin Salem the 
elephants destroyed, and turned the whole region into a horrible 
wilderness. But at Ibwiri we were beyond the utmost reach 
of the destroyers; we were on virgin soil, in a populous 
region abounding with food. Our suffering from hunger, 
which began on the 31st of August, terminated on the 
12th of November. Ourselves and men were skeletons. Out 
of three hundred and eighty-nine we are now only num- 
bered one hundred and seventy-four, several of whom seem- 



STANXEY LEADS THE EMIJST PASHA BELIEF EXPEDITION. 731 

ed to have no hope of life left. A halt was therefore or- 
dered for the people to recuperate. Hitherto our people were 
skeptical of what we told them, the suffering had been so aw- 
ful, calamities so numerous, the forest so endless apparently, 
that they refused to believe that by-and-by we should see plains 
and cattle and the Nyanza and the white man, Emin Pasha. 
We felt as though we were dragging them along with a chain 
round our necks. ' Beyond these raiders lies a country un- 
touched, where food is abundant, and where you will forget 
your miseries; so cheer up boys; be men; press on a little 
faster.' They turned a deaf ear to our prayers and entreat- 
ies, for, driven by hunger and suffering, they sold their rifles 
and equipments for a few ears of Indian corn, deserted with 
the ammunition, and were altogether demoralized. Perceiv- 
ing that prayers and entreaties and mild punishments were of 
no avail, I then resorted to visit upon the wretches the death 
penalty. Two of the worst cases were accordingly taken and 
hung in the presence of all. 

*'We halted thirteen days in Ibwiri, and reveled on fowls, 
goats, bananas, corn, sweet potatoes, yams, beans, etc. The 
supplies were inexhaustible, and the people glutted them- 
selves; the effect was such that I had a hundred and seventy- 
three — one killed by an arrow — mostly sleek and robust men, 
when I set out for the Albert Nyanza on the 24th of Novem- 
ber. There were still a hundred and twenty-six miles from 
the lake; but, given food, such a distance seemed nothing. 

*' While in England, considering the best routes open to 
the Nyanza (Albert), I thought I was very liberal in allowing 
myself two weeks' march to cross the forest region lying be- 
tween the Congo and the grass-lands, but you may imagine 
our feelings when month after month saw us marching, tear- 
ing, plowing, cutting, through that same continuous forest. 
It took us a hundred and sixty days before we could say : 

" 'Thank God, we are out of the darkness at last!' 

*' At one time we were all — whites and blacks — almost done 
up. September, October, and half of that month of Novem- 
ber, 1887, will not be forgotten by us. October will be speci- 
ally memorable to us for the sufferings we endured. * * Try 
and imagine some of these inconveniences. Take a thick Scot- 
tish copse, dripping with rain ; imagine this copse to be a mere 
undergrowth, nourished under the impenetrable shade of an- 
cient trees, ranging from 100 to 180 feet high; briers and 
thorns abundant; lazy creeks, meandering through the depths 
of the jungle, and sometimes a deep afiluent of a great river. 



732 STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 

Imagine this forest and jungle in all stages of decay and 
growth — old trees falling, leaning perilously over, fallen pros- 
trate; ants and insects of all kinds, sizes and colors, murmur- 
ing around; monkeys and chimpanzees above; queer noises 
of birds and animals, crashes in the jungle as troops of ele- 
phants rush away; dwarfs with poisoned arrows securely hid- 
den behind some buttress or in some dark recess ; strong, brown- 




Stanley Showing His Followers the Promised Land Beyond the Forest, 

bodied aborigines with terribly sharp spears, standing poised, 
still as dead stumps ; rain pattering down on you every other 
day in the year; an impure atmosphere, with its dread conse- 
quences, fever and dysentery; gloom throughout the day, and 
darkness almost palpable throughout the night, and then if you 
will imagine such a forest extending the entire distance from 
Plymouth to Peterhead, you will have a fair idea of some of 



STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 733 

the inconveniences endured by us from June 28 to December 5, 
1887. 

" On the 1st of December we sighted the open country from 
the top of a ridge connected with Mount Pisgah, so named 
from our first view of the land of promise and plenty. On the 
5th of December we emerged upon the plains, and the deadly, 
gloomy forest was behind us. After one hundred and sixty 
days' continuous gloom we saw the light of broad day shining 
all around us and making all things beautiful. We thought we 
had never seen grass so green or country so lovely. The men 
literally yelled and leaped for joy, and raced over the ground 
with their burdens. Ah, this was the old spirit of former ex- 
peditions successfully completed all of a sudden revived. 

'* Woe betide the native aggressor we may meet, however 
powerful he may be ; with such a spirit the men will fling 
themselves like wolves on sheep. Numbers will not be con- 
sidered. It had been the eternal forest that had made the ab- 
ject slavish creature so brutally plundered by Arab slaves at 
Kilinga-Longa's. 

"Now that we have gone through and through this forest 
region, I only feel a surprise that I did not give a greater lati- 
tude to my ideas respecting its extent; for had we thought of 
it, it is only what might have been deduced from our knowl- 
edge of the great sources of moisture necessary to supply the 
forest with the requisite sap and vitality. Think of the large 
extent of the South Atlantic Ocean, whose vapors are blown 
during nine months of the year in this direction. Think of the 
broad Congo, varying from one to sixteen miles wide, which 
has a stretch of 1400 miles, supplying another immeasurable 
quantity of moisture, to be distilled into rain and mist and dew 
over this insatiable forest ; and then another 600 miles of the 
Aruwimi or Ituri itself, and then you will cease to wonder that 
there are about 150 days of rain every year in this region, and 
that the Congo forest covers such a wide area. 

" Until we set foot on the grass-land, something like fifty 
miles west of the Albert Nyanza, we saw nothing that looked 
a smile, or a kind thought, or a moral sensation. The abo- 
rigines are wild, utterly savage, and incorrigibly vindictive. 
The dwarfs, called Wambutti, are worse still, far worse. Ani- 
mal life is likewise so wild and shy that no sport is to be en- 
joyed. The gloom of the forest is perpetual. The face of the 
river, reflecting its black wall of vegetation, is dark and som- 
ber. The sky one-half the time every day resembles a win- 
try sky in England ; the face of Nature and life is fixed and joy- 



STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 735 

less. If the sun charges through the black clouds enveloping 
it, and a kindly wind brushes the masses of vapor below the 
horizon, and the bright light reveals our surroundings, it is 
only to tantalize us with a short-lived brilliancy of beauty 
and verdure. 

" On the confines of this forest, near a village which was rich 
in sugar-cane, ripe bananas, tobacco, Indian-corn, and other 
productions of aboriginal husbandry, we came across an an- 
cient woman lying asleep. I believe she was a leper and an 
outcast, but she was undoubtedly ugly, vicious and old ; and 
being old she w^as obstinate. I practiced all kinds of seduc- 
tive arts to get her to do something besides crossly mumbling, 
but of no avail. Curiosity having drawm towards us about a 
hundred of our people, she fastened fixed eyes on one young 
fellow (smooth-faced and good-looking), and smiled. I caused 
him to sit near her, and she became voluble enough— beauty 
and youth had tamed the 'beast.' From her talk we learned 
that there was a powerful tribe called the Bazanza, with a 
great king, to the north-east of our camp, of whom we might 
well be afraid, as the people were as numerous as grass. Had 
we learned this ten days earlier, I might have been anxious for 
the result, but it now drew only a contemptuous smile from 
the people, for each one, since he had seen the grass-land and 
evidences of meat, had been transformed into a hero. 

" We poured out on the plain a frantic multitude, but after 
an hour or two we became an orderly column. Into the emp- 
tied villages of the open country we proceeded to regale our- 
selves on melon, rich-flavored bananas, and plantains, and 
great pots full of wine. The fowls, unaware of the presence 
of a hungry mob, were knocked down, plucked and roasted 
or boiled; the goats meditatively browsing or chewing the 
cud, were suddenly seized and decapitated, and the grateful 
aroma of roast meat gratified our senses. An abundance, a 
prodigal abundance, of good things, had awaited our erup- 
tion into the grass-land. Every village w^as well-stocked with 
provisions, and even luxuries long denied to us. Under such 
fare the men became more robust, diseases healed as if by mag- 
ic, and there was not a goee-goee or chicken-heart left. 

" On the 9th w^e came to the country of the powerful chief 
Mazamboni. The villages were scattered over a great extent of 
country so thickly that there was no other road except through 
their villages or fields. From a long distance the natives had 
sighted us, and were prepared. We seized a hill as soon as w^e 
had arrived in the center of a mass of villages — about 4 P. M. 



STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 737 

on the 9th of December, and occupied it, building a zariba as 
fast as billhooks could cut brushwood. The war-cries were 
terrible ; from hill to hill they were sent pealing across the 
intervening valleys, the people gathered by hundreds from 
every point, war-horns and drums announced that a struggle 
was about to take place. Such natives as were too bold we 
checked with but little effort, and a slight skirmish ended in 
our capturing a cow, the first beef tasted since we left the 
ocean. The night passed peacefully, both sides preparing 
for the morrow. On the morning of the 10th we attempted 
to open negotiations. The natives were anxious to know who 
we were, and we were anxious to glean news of the land that 
threatened to ruin the expedition. Hours were passed talking, 
both parties keeping a respectable distance apart. The na- 
tives said they were subject to Uganda, but that Kabba Rega 
was their real king, Mazamboni holding the country for Kab- 
ba Rega. They finally accepted cloth and brass rods to show 
their king Mazamboni, and his answer was to be given next day. 
In the mean time all hostilities were to be suspended. 

" The morning of the 11th dawned, and at 8 A. M. we were 
startled at hearing a man proclaiming that it was Mazamboni's 
wish that we should be driven back from the land. The proc- 
lamation was received by the valley around our neighborhood 
with deafening cries. Their word hanwana signifies to make 
peace; hurwana signifies war. We were, therefore, in doubt, 
or rather we hoped we had heard wrongly. We sent an inter- 
preter a little nearer to ask if it was kanicana or hurwana. 
' Kurwana^' they responded, and to emphasize the term two 
arrows were shot at him, which dissipated all doubt. Our hill 
stood between a lofty range of hills and a lower range. On 
one side of us was a narrow valley 250 yards wide; on the oth- 
er side the valley was three miles wide. East and west of us 
the valley broadened into an extensive plain. The higher 
range of hills was lined with hundreds preparing to descend ; 
the broader valley was already mustering its hundreds. There 
was no time to lose. A body of forty men was sent, under 
Lieutenant Stairs, to attack the broader valley. Mr. Jephson 
was sent with thirty men east; a choice body of sharp-shoot- 
ers was sent to test the courage of those descending the slope 
of the highest range. Stairs pressed on, crossed a deep and 
narrow river in the face of hundreds of natives, and assaulted 
the first village and took it. The sharp-shooters did their work 
effectively, and drove the descending natives rapidly up the 
slope until it became a general flight. Meantime, Mr. Jephson 



738 STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA EELIEF EXPEDITION. 

was not idle. He marched straight up the valley east, driving 
the people back, and taking their village as he went. By 3 P. 
M. there was not a native visible anywhere except on one 
small hill about a mile and a half west of us. 

" On the morning of the 12th we continued our march; dur- 
ing the day we had four little fights. On the 13th we march- 
ched straight east; attacked by new forces every hour until 
noon, when we halted for refreshments. These we overcame. 

" This region is inhabited by remnants of tribes who have 
come from Unyoro, Itoro, south-east and south, and from oth- 
er nations north, to settle, by force or consent, among the Wahu- 
ma shepherds and herdsmen. The most numerous are the Bar- 
egga, orBalegga, who occupy a compact mass of hills south-west 
of Lake Albert, and whose territory extends down to the level 
of the Albert. The Baregga also made the most fierce and ob- 
stinate resistance to us. For three days in succession they 
poured down the hills on our flank and rear. Having learned 
that there was no hope of satisfying them except by a hasty 
withdrawal, we simply pressed on, and fronted them on each 
occasion with smoking Remingtons, until the waste tract of 
the Nyanza gave us a breathing spell. 

'* At 1 P. M. [December 13] we resumed our march. Fif- 
teen minutes later I cried out: 

ii < Prepare yourselves for a sight of the Nyanza!' 

*' The men murmured and doubted, and said: 

" 'Why does the master continually talk to us in this way?' 
Nyanza, indeed! Is not this a plain, and can we not see moun- 
tains at least four days' march ahead of us?' 

'•' At 1:30 P. M. the Albert Nyanza was below them. Now 
it was my turn to jeer and scoff at the doubters, but as I was 
about to ask them what they saw, so many came to kiss my 
hands and beg my pardon that I could not say a word. This 
was my reward. The mountains, they said, were the moun- 
tains of Unyoro, or rather its lofty plateau wall. Kavalli, the 
objective point of the expedition, was six miles from us as the 
crow flies. 

'' We were at an altitude of five thousand two hundred feet 
above the sea. The Albert Nyanza was over two thousand nine 
hundred feet below us. We stood in one degree twenty min- 
utes north latitude ; the south end of the Nyanza lay hirgely 
mapped about six miles south of this position. Right across to 
the eastern shore every dent in its low, flat shore was visible, 
and traced like a silver snake on a dark ground was the tribu- 
tary Semliki, flowing into the Albert from the south-west. 



STANLEY LEADS TH^ EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 739 

** After a short halt to enjoy the prospect, we commenced 
the rugged and stony descent. Before the rear-guard had de- 
scended 100 feet the natives of the plateau we had just left 
poured after them. Had they shown as much courage and 
perseverance on the plain as they now exhibited, we might 
have been seriously delayed. The rear-guard was kept very 
busy until within a few hundred feet of the Nyanza plain. We 
camped at the foot of the plateau wall, the aneroids reading 
2500 feet above sea-level. A night attack was made on us, but 
our sentries sufficed to drive these natives away. 

" At 9 A. M. of the 14th we approached the village of Ka- 
kongo, situated at the south-west corner of the Albert Lake. 
Three hours were spent by us attempting to make friends. We 
signally failed. They would not allow us to go to the lake be- 
cause we might frighten their cattle. They would not ex- 
change blood-brotherhood with us, because they never heard 
of any good people coming from the west side of the lake. 
They would not accept any present from us, because they did 
not know who we were. They would give us water to drink, 
and they would show us our road up to Nyamsassic. But from 
these singular people we learned that they had heard there was 
was a white man at Unyoro, but they had never heard of any 
white men being on the west side, nor had they seen any 
steamers on the lake. There were no canoes to be had except 
such as would hold the men, etc. 

" There was no excuse for quarreling; the people were civil 
enough, but they did not want us near them. We therefore 
were shown the path, and followed it a few miles, when we 
camped about half a mile from the lake. We began to con- 
sider our position, with the light thrown upon it by the con- 
versation with theKakongo natives. My couriers from Zanzi- 
bar had evidently not arrived, or, I presume, Emin Pasha with 
his two steamers would have paid the south-west side of the 
lake a visit to prepare the natives for our coming. My boat 
was at Kilinga-Longa's, one hundred and ninety miles distant. 
There was no canoe obtainable, and to seize a canoe without 
the excuse of a quarrel my conscience would not permit. 
There was no tree anywhere of a size to make canoes. Wade- 
lai was a terrible distance off for an expedition so reduced as 
ours. We had used five cases of cartridges in five days' 
fighting on the plain. A month of such fighting must ex- 
haust our stock. There was no plan suggested which seemed 
feasible to me, except that of retreating to Ibwiri, build a 
fort, send a party back to Kilinga-Longa's for our boat, store up 




740-1 



BURNINCx VILLAGES I!^ 

(From a Drawing by a 




AZAMBONl'S COUNTRY 

iher of the Expedition.) 



742 STANLEY LEADS THE EMlJT PASHA BELIEF EXPEDITION. 

every load in the fort not conveyable, leave a garrison in the 
fort to hold it, and raise corn for us; march back again to 
the Albert Lake, and send the boat to search for Emin Pa- 
sha. This was the plan which, after lengthy discussions with 
my officers, I resolved upon. 

'* On the 15th we marched to the site of Kavalli, on the 
west side of the lake. Kavalli had years ago been destroyed. 
At 4 P. M.-the Kakongo natives had followed us, and shot 
several arrows into our bivouac, and disappeared as quickly 
as they came. At 6 P. M., we began a night march, and by 
10 A. M. of the 16th we had gained the crest of the plateau 
once more, Kakongo natives having persisted in following us 
up the slope of the plateau. We had one man killed and one 
wounded. 

*' By January 7 we were in Ibwiri once again, and after a 
few days' rest, Lieutenant Stairs, with a hundred men, was 
sent to Kilinga-Longa's to bring the boat and the goods up, 
also Surgeon Parke and Captain Nelson. Out of the thirty- 
eight sick in charge of the officers, only eleven men were 
brought to the fort; the rest had died or deserted." 

It was at Ibwiri, eleven marches from the Nyanza, that the 
fort referred to was built; that is, *'we dug a ditch, made a 
breastwork, erected tall platforms for sharpshooters, and sur- 
rounded the whole with a maze of fences. * * * Mean- 
time we cultivated the land, planted corn, beans, and tobac- 
co, and having left a sufficient garrison in the fort, called 
Bodo, or Peace, we marched for the Albert Lake a second 
time. 

*' On the return of Stairs with the boat and goods, he was 
sent to Ugarrowwa's to bring up the convalescents there. I 
granted him thirty-nine days' grace, Soon after his departure 
I was attacked with gastritis and an abscess on the arm, but af- 
ter a month's careful nursing by Dr. Parke I recovered, and 
forty-seven days having expired, I set out again for the Albert 
Nyanza, April 2, accompanied by Messrs. Jephson and Parke. 
Captain Nelson, now recovered, was appointed commandant 
of Fort Bodo in our absence, with a garrison of forty-three 
men and boys. 

*'0n April 26, we arrived in Mazamboni's country once 
again, but this time, after solicitation, Mazamboni decided to 
make blood-brotherhood with me. Though I had fifty rifles 
less with me on this second visit, the example of Mazamboni 
was followed by all the other chiefs as far as the Nyanza, and 
every difficulty seemed removed. Food was supplied gratis; 



STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA BELIEF EXPEDITION. 743 

cattle, goats, sheep, and fowls were also given in such abund- 
ance that our people lived royally. 

'* The sharp punishment the natives of the grass-land had 
received on our first visit had so tamed them that they all 
made peace with us one after the other, paid indemnities for 
expenses in the shape of cattle and food. They cut wood, 
bore water to the camp, carried our ammunition and material, 
furnished us with guides, and escorted us by hundreds. We 
had but to express a wish and it was gratified. One day's 
march from the Nyanza the natives came from Kavalli, and 
said that a white man named * Malejja ' had given their 
chief a black packet to give to me, his son. Would I follow 
them? ' Yes, to-morrow,' I answered, 'and if your words 
are true, I will make you rich.' 

" They remained with us that night, telling us wonderful 
stories about 'big ships as large as islands filled with men,' 
etc., which left no doubt in our mind that this white man was 
Emin Pasha. The next day's march brought us to the chief 
Kavalli, and after a while he handed me a note from Emin 
Pasha, covered with a strip of black American oil-cloth. The 
note was to the effect ' that as there had been a native rumor 
to the effect that a white man had been seen at the south end 
of the lake, he had gone in his steamer to make inquiries, but 
had been unable to obtain reliable information, as the natives 
were terribly afraid of Kabba Rega, king of Unyoro, and con- 
nected every stranger with him.' However, the wife of the 
Nyamsassic chief had told a native ally of his, named Mogo, 
that she had seen us in Mrusuma (Mazamboni's country). 
He therefore begged me to remain where I was until he could 
communicate with me. The note was signed '(Dr.) Emin,' 
and dated March 26. 

"On the next day, April 23, Mr. Jephson was dispatched 
with a strong force of men to take the boat to the Nyanza. 
On the 26th, the boat's crew sighted Mswa station, the south- 
ernmost belonging to Emin Pasha, and Mr. Jephson was there 
hospitably received by the Egyptian garrison. The boat's crew 
say that they were embraced one by one, and that they never 
had such attention shown them as by these men. 

" On the 29th of April we once again reached the bivouac 
ground occupied by us on the 16th of December, and at 5 P. M. of 
that day I saw the Khedive steamer about seven miles away 
steaming up toward us. Soon after 7 P. M. Emin Pasha and 
Signer Casati and Mr. Jephson arrived at our camp, where 
they were heartily welcomed by all of us. 



STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 745 

The meeting of Mr. Stanley and Emin Pasha on the shores 
of the Albert Nyanza took place on Sunday, April 29, 1888, 
when a courier arrived with a letter from Mr. Jephson from 
Mswa, informing Mr. Stanley that Emin Pasha would arrive 
in his steamer at the south end of the Lake. Immediately the 
order was given to strike camp, advance to the shores of the 
Lake, and there await Emin Pasha's arrival. After marching 
four hours, they pitched camp on a rising ground facing the 
island of Nzamsassie ; every one of them, both white and black, 
now straining his eyes to get a first glimpse of the steamer. Just 
about sunset Mr. Stanley, by the aid of his binoculars, first 
saw the steamer, about seven miles distant. This announce- 
ment drew from the men successive cheers of heartfelt satis- 
faction and delight that they would soon see the man for 
whom they had toiled so much. At seven in the evening the 
steamer cast anchor, and the Pasha, Captain Casati, Mr. 
Jephson, and suite were quickly on shore, received by Sur- 
geon Parke and an escort. As it was now dark, the Zanzi- 
baris lighted torches and bonfires to show the road to camp, 
which was about two hundred yards off. Here the distinguish- 
ed guests were received by Mr. Stanley in the most cordial 
and friendly manner. His men were in ecstasy, and enthusi- 
astically cheered the Pasha, while the Nubians returned the 
compliment in their usual vociferations and gesticulations. 
The Pasha, who was dressed in a tarboush and spotless white 
suit, expressed his thanks to the English for the relief expe- 
dition. Mr. Stanley thus describes the Pasha's condition: 

** Emin Pasha, although living in comfort so far as provisions 
could supply his wants, was in a much worse position than I 
believed he was when I set out from England. Kabba Kega 
had been friendly with him up to December, 1887, but the 
news spread through Uganda, and thence to Unyoro, that there 
was a large expedition advancing to help Emin. Then Kabba- 
Rega immediately expelled Captain Casati with every mark of 
indignity. He was bound to a tree, stripped naked, and final- 
ly sent adrift to perish. Fort unately, after a few days of ex- 
treme misery and want, he was found and rescued by Emin 
Pasha, who, in his steamer, searched the north-eastern shore . 
for him. This was a terrible reverse for Casati, who was rob- 
bed of all his clothes, journals, and memoirs. * * * As 
Kabba Rega has about fifteen hundred guns, mostly rifles, he 
is not so despicable an opponent as he was in the time of 
Baker. These African kings settled in their own country have 
time in their favor. In time everything comes to those who 



STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 747 

can wait. Kabba Rega, of course, could wait without impa- 
tience, and everything belonging to Emin Pasha and his force 
would revert to him, failing any decisive movement of retreat 
on the part of Emin before it was too late. The northern 
road via the Nile was blocked, though many of his soldiers 
fondly hoped up to this day for relief from that quarter. 
To the south are the warlike tribes whom we will have to meet 
going to the sea, and Emin Pasha's people had no idea of ven- 
turing in that direction, because they would not believe that 
Emin knew the road, and they had not seen a living man ap- 
pear from there to give them the news of such a road. To the 
west and south-west were numerous peoples who knew how to 
fight, who were as yet unwhipped out of their native arrogance, 
and consequently had an immense faith in their native valor. 
Their strength and fighting powers were left for us to test, 
and for a short time it really seemed as if we had been too con- 
fident. Day after day they leaped and bounded to the strug- 
gle, which, however, always ended disastrously for them. 
Even if they had gathered en masse, these natives could 
never have held their own against Emin Pasha's force, pro- 
vided his people were unanimously loyal and determined 
to co-operate with him. Unfortunately the force is not to be 
relied on for such a work. If the Nubians doubted that Emin 
Pasha could lead them south to Zanzibar they would doubt 
that he could lead them anywhere, especially to the wilds of 
the west, about which no man knew anything. The Nubians 
were determined to go north by the Nile, and to let Emin 
Pasha lead them, but on arriving near Khartoom they would 
tell him they knew the road themselves, and did not need 
him. This was their idea, and it is principally the reason why 
the Pasha seemed to be hemmed in so rigorously. 

**The next day we moved to a better camping-place, about 
three miles above Nyamsassic, and at this spot Emin Pasha al- 
so made his camp ; we were together till the 25th of May. On 
that day I left him, leaving Mr. Jephson, three Soudanese, and 
two Zanzibaris in his care, and in return he caused to accom- 
pany me three of his irregulars and one hundred and two Madi 
natives as porters." 

We conclude the present chapter with a resume of the geo- 
graphical results of this now famous march from the mouth of 
the Aruwimi to the Albert Nyanza; the account being given, like 
the preceding narrative, as much as possible in Stanley's own 
words, in which, though there may be some repetition of the 
events, there is much of additional interest: 
47 



748 STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 



**We camped at Yakonde, a populous settlement opposite 
rapids, on the first day of departure, the 28th June, 1887. 
Along the river bank no path could be found; besides, the 
river trended too much to the north-east for the course I pro- 
posed to take; we, therefore, cut a path through the manioc 
fields and came upon a traveled road leading from village to 
village inland. In a few days we became fully initiated into 
the subtleties of savage warfare. Every art known to native 
minds for annoying strangers was practiced by these natives. 
The path frequently had shallow pits filled with sharpened 
splinters, or skewers, deftly covered over with large leaves. 
For barefooted people this proved a terrible punishment. Of- 
ten the skewers would perforate the feet quite through ; at 
other times the tops would be buried in the feet, resulting in 
gangrenous sores. We had ten men lamed by these skew- 
ers — so efliciently lamed that few of them recovered to be of 
much use to us. One of the approaches to every village was 
a straight road, perhaps a hundred yards long and twelve feet 




Sectional Steel Boat Used in the Expedition. 
wide, cleared of jungle, but bristling with these skewers care- 
fully and cunningly hidden at every place likely to be trodden 
by an incautious foot. The real path was crooked and took 
a wide detour; the cut road appeared so tempting, so straight 
and so short. At the village end was the watchman, to beat 
his drum and sound the alarm, when every native would take 
his weapons and proceed to the appointed place to ply his 
bow at every opportunity. Yet despite a formidable list of 
hostile measures and attempts, no life was lost, though our 
wounded increased in number. 

"After a few days of this work the path became an ele- 
phant track, leading south-east and south and south-west. 
We again changed our course. By compass we found a path 
leading north-east and east, and on the 5th July touched the 
river again, and being free of rapids apparently, I lightened 
the advance column of the steel boat and forty loads. The 
boat proved invaluable; she not only carried our cripples and 



STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 749 

sick, but also nearly two tons of goods. From July 5 to the 
middle of October we clung to the river. Sometimes its im- 
mense curves and long trend northeast would give me sharp 
twinges of doubt that it was wise to cling to it; on the other 
hand, the sufferings of the people, the long continuity of for- 
est, the numerous creeks, the mud, the offensive atmosphere, 
the perpetual rains, the long-lasting mugginess, pleaded elo- 
quently against the abandonment of the river until north lati- 
tude two degrees should be attained. 

" On the 9th of July we came to the rapids of Gwengwere, 
another populous district. Near here I saw a stratum of oyster 
shells, covered with three feet of alluvial soil. How many 
scores of years have elapsed since the old aborigines fed on 
these bivalves? I should like to know; and what was the tribe's 
name, and where, if any exists, is the remnant? For waves 
of wild peoples have come and gone over this land, as over 
other lands. Indeed, these villages, though so close together, 
shelter many little tribes of men. At Gwengwere Rapids, for 
instance, there are the Bakoka, Bagwengwere, and a little 
higher up are the Bapupa, Bandangi, and Banali; the tap of 
a drum alarms all ; while inland are the Bambalulu and the 
Baburu, the latter of whom are spread out over a considerable 
region. The Baburu call the river Suhali. 

"Beyond Mariri Rapids is a large settlement on the south 
bank called Mupe ; there is another portion of the same tribe 
located a little higher up on the north bank. Up to this place 
there is no decided fall of water; the rapids are caused by reefs 
of rock, through which the river has channeled passages, 
where the current is like that of a sluice. Conveying as we do 
such stores of ammunition and baggage, there is a delay of 
perhaps two days at such rapid, for we have to carry the bag- 
gage overland, and either pole or haul the canoes through the 
rushing currents. 

*' The next rapids are those near Bandeya, which we reach- 
ed on the 25th of July. Between Mariri and Bandeya Rapids 
are located the Balulu, Batunda, Bumbwa, and at the last 
rapids are the Bwamburi. Inland, to the north, are theBatua, 
and Mabodi occupy the region farther east. To the south are 
the Bundiba peoples, the Binyali, and Bakongo. 

*' Peace among the river tribes is signified by tossing water 
upward with the hand or paddle, and letting it fall on their 
heads. If we believed them, the natives all suffered from 
famine — there was no corn, nor bananas, nor sugar-cane, nor 
fowls, goats, or anything else. Exhibition of brass wire, cow- 



750 STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 

ries, or beads had no charm for them — because, since they had 
no food, such kinds of currency were unattainable. Long ago 
we had surely all died from want had we been so simple as to 
believe them. In every attempt at barter we suffered from the 
cunning rogues. A brass rod only purchased three ears of 
corn — in a short time a fowl rose to five brass rods. To live 
at all, we had to take what we could, for our would-be friends 
were our worst enemies, because they aided a constant enemy 
to us — hunger. 

'* At a place called Mugwye's, above the rapids of Bandeya, 
there is a cluster of seven villages, backed by plantations of 
bananas and manioc-fields miles square. An entire day was 
spent by us pleading, begging, expostulating, and bartering at 
terribly dear prices — about a third of the people had received 
about three ears of corn each for their cowries and brass rods. 
The shamef ulness of this you will better understand when I 
tell you that at Bangala, eight hundred miles nearer the ocean, 
a brass rod purchases ten rolls of cassava bread, three cowries 
purchased about fifty bananas, etc. ; here a brass rod ought to 
have purchased twenty rolls of bread, or two large bunches of 
bananas. Well, we went over in boats and canoes and helped 
ourselves, and prepared food for the nine days' wilderness 
ahead of us. 

'*Four days' march above Mugwye's, we came to Panga 
Falls — a decided fall of thirty feet in the center. The people 
here tried to cozen us also ; but as life could not be sustained 
with empty words, our intercourse was but short. 

** Above Panga the rapids became more frequent — there is 
Nejambi, Mabengu, and Avugadu; and a day's paddlingabove 
the latter we come to the settlement of Avejeli, opposite the 
cataract by which the Nepoko, three hundred yards wide, tum- 
bles into the Ituri, or Aruwimi. 

'*At Avisibba, about half-way between Panga Falls and 
the Nepoko, the natives attacked our camp in quite a resolute 
and determined fashion. Their stores of poisoned arrows, 
they thought, gave them every advantage ; and indeed when 
the poison is fresh, it is most deadly. Lieutenant Stairs and 
five men were wounded by these. Lieutenant Stairs' wound was 
from an arrow the poison of which was dry; it must have been 
put on some days before. After three weeks or so he recov- 
ered strength, though the wound was not closed for months. 
One man received a slight puncture near the wrist; he died 
from tetanus five days after. Another received a puncture 
near the shoulder in the muscles of the arm ; he died six hours 



STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 751 

later than the first case — of tetanus also. One was wounded 
in the gullet — a slight puncture; he died on the seventh day. 
I believe one wounded in the side died at night the same 
day. Tetanus ended the sufferings of all. We were much ex- 
ercised as to what this poison might he that was so deadly. 
On returning from the Nyanza to relieve the rear column, un- 
der Major Barttelot, we halted at Avisibba, and rummaging 
among the huts, found several packets of dried red ants, or 
pismires. It was then we knew that the dried bodies of these, 
ground into powder, cooked in palm oil, and smeared over 
the wooden points of the arrows, was the deadly irritant by 
which we lost so many fine men by such terrible suffering. 
Now we wonder that we have been so long in the dark, for 
we could create any number of poisons from such insects as 
we have seen. The large black ant, for instance, whose bite 
causes a great blister, would be still more venomous prepared 
in the same way; the small gray caterpillars would make an- 
another irritant which, mixed with the blood, would torture 
a man to death; the bloated spiders, an inch in length, which 
are covered with prickles most painful to the touch, would 
form another terrible compound, the effects of which make 
one shudder to think of. These poisons are prepared in the 
woods. In the depths of the forest the savage makes his 
fire and prepares the fatal venom which lays low even the huge 
elephant. It is forbidden to cook it near a village. In the 
forest he smears his arrows, and having covered the points 
with fresh leaves lest he himself might be a victim, he is 
ready for war. 

" I could write a book almost upon the various species of 
bees found in this forest region, and several books might be 
written about the multitude of curious insects we have seen. 
What with the bees of all kinds, the wasps, the various kinds 
of ticks, gnats, etc., our lives have been made just as miser- 
able as they could well be. We were prepared to encounter 
the most ferocious cannibals, but the Central African forest, 
now opened for the first time, contains some horrors within 
its gloomy bosom that we were not prepared for. 

"The banks of the river, covered with forest from the 
Congo to the Nepoko, are uniformly low; here and there 
they rise to about forty feet; but above the Nepoko hills be- 
gin to crop up more frequently, palms are more numerous, 
and the woods show the tall, white-stemmed trees so charac- 
teristic of the slopes of the Lower Congo. Apropos of these, 
the natives have a curious way of clearing the woods; they 




752-3 



THE 7'^IRST SKtHT < 

(From a Drawing by Li' 




.AKE ALBERT NYANZA. 

ilrs,E, E., of the Expedition.) 



754 STANLEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 

make a platform about ten or fifteen, or even twenty feet 
high above the reach of the buttress, and chop the trees down 
at that height. A clearing will show a few hundreds of trees 
thus cropped; and when the bark is decayed, a stranger might 
fancy, from a first view of the field, that he had come upon a 
ruined city of temples. 

Above the Nepoko navigation becomes more difiicult, rap- 
ids are more frequent — there are two considerable falls to be 
met with. The land rises steadily until about four hundred 
miles above Yambuya the river is contracted into a rushing 
stream about one hundred yards wide, banked by the steep 
walls of a canon, though, of course, in this forest region, 
woods clothe the slopes and summits. Whatever changes the 
face of the land may show, the forest covers peak, hill, ridge, 
valley, plain — everywhere it is continuous, nowhere broken, 
except at such clearings as man has made. 

**We braved this stream, wild as it was, for a few days 
longer, but finally progress became impossible. We emptied 
canoes and boat of their loads, mustered the caravan, and 
found we were so physically weak that we could not carry 
them. Ulcers, famine, dysentery, had sapped the strength of 
a great number. The whole of October, though we had only 
about fifty miles to travel, was spent in gaining the settlement 
of Kilinga-Longa, about four hundred and sixty miles above 
Yambuya, sending relief parties back to those whom we had 
left behind. Had we been a year earlier — say had we started 
in 1886 instead of 1887 — we should have met with plenty of 
food up to the Nyanza; but the Arabs, or two Arabs and their 
followers, had devastated a Avhole region. Fungi and wild fruit 
sustained us; and those who could not get sufficient of the 
strange things we lived upon perished, or deserted the starv- 
ing column to die elsewhere. 

" As I may say also that ten minutes' march took us from the 
head of the stream, draining towards the Ituri to the spot 
whence we saw the Nyanza at our feet, it does not require 
much imagination to picture the face or contour of the land 
from this point down to the confluence of the Aruwimi, or 
Ituri, with the Congo. It is like the smooth glacis of a fort, 
and then a sudden drop to the bottom of the ditch; the slop- 
ing glacis would represent the valley of the Ituri up the crest, 
and then the deep gulf, 2900 feet deep, at the bottom of which 
is the lake. 

" The Aruwimi has many names — the Dudu, Biyerre, Su- 
hali, the Nevva, Nowelle, Itiri — for the last 300 miles of its 



STAMiEY LEADS THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION. 755 

course, but upward to its source it has a singular, wide-spread- 
ing fame under the name of Ituri. The aborigines of the Ny- 
anza — the open plateau and forest tribes down to within a few 
miles of the Nepoko — all unite in calling it the Ituri. 

*'The main Ituri, at the distance of 680 miles from its 
mouth, is 125 yards wide, nine feet deep, and has a current of 
three knots. It appears to run parallel with the Nyanza. Near 
that group of cones and hills affectionately named Mount 
Schweinfurth, Mount Junker, and Mount Speke, I would 
place its highest source. Draw three or four respectable 
streams draining into it from the crest of the plateau overlook- 
ing the Victoria Nyanza, and two or three respectable streams 
flowing into it from north-westerly ; let the main stream flow 
south-west to near north latitude one degree ; give it a bow^- 
like form north latitude one degree to north latitude one de- 
gree fifty minutes; then let it flow with curves and bends, 
down to north latitude one degree seventeen minutes near 
Yambuya, and you have a sketch of the course of the Aruwi- 
mi, or Ituri, from the highest source down to its mouth, and 
the length of this Congo tributary will be eight hundred miles. ' ' 

Shortly after leaving the camp where he had been with Emin 
Pasha, Stanley caught sight of Ruwenzori ; but of this distant 
view we will here make but a bare mention, leaving a detailed 
description of the mountain for another time. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



STANLEY RESC UES EMIJV PASHA. 

AYING found Emin Pasha, the question which natural- 
ly arose was, what should be done toward securing his 
safety and that of his men? He had two battalions of 
regulars under him, comprising altogether about four- 
teen hundred men ; these were scattered among fourteen sta- 
tions. Besides these battalions, he had quite a respectable 
force of irregulars, sailors, artisans, clerks, servants. 

" Altogether," he said to Stanley; '' if I consent to go away 
from here, we shall have about eight thousand people with us." 

" Were I in your place," returned Stanley, '*I would not 
hesitate a moment, or be in doubt a second what to do." 

'' What you say is quite true, but we have such a large num- 
ber of women and children, probably ten thousand people al- 
together. How can they all be brought out of here? We shall 
want a great number of carriers." 

*' Carriers! carriers for what?" Stanley asked. 

*' For the women and children. You surely would not leave 
them, and they cannot travel." 

"The women must walk. It will do them more good than 
harm. As f or the ffttle children, load them on the donkeys. 
I hear that you have about two hundred of them. Your peo- 
ple will not travel very far the first month, but little by little 
they will get accustomed to it. Our Zanzibar women crossed 
Africa, on my second expedition ; why cannot your black wo- 
men do the same? Have no fear of them; the women will do 
better than the men." 

'* They would require a vast amount of provision for the 
road." 

" True: but you have some thousands of cattle, I believe; 
they will furnish beef. The countries through which we pass 
must furnish grain and vegetable food." 
75G 



STAISXEY EESCUES EMIK" PASHA. 757 

" Well, well, we will defer further talk till to-morrow." 

The Pasha returned to his steamer, and the next day the 
conyersation was renewed. At last Emin Pasha told Stanley: 

*' What you told me yesterday has led me to think that it 
would be best for us to retire from here. The Egyptians are 
very willing to leave. There are of these about one hundred 
men, besides their women and children. Of these there is no 
doubt; and even if I stayed here, I should be glad to be rid of 
them, because they undermine my authority and nullify all my 
endeavors for retreat. When I informed them that Khartoom 
had fallen and Gordon Pasha was slain, they always told the 
Nubians that it was a concocted story, that some day we should 
see the steamers ascend the river for their relief. But of the 
regulars who comprise the first and second battalions, I am 
extremely doubtful. They have led such a free and happy 
life here that they would demur at leaving a country where 
they have enjoyed luxuries they cannot command in Egypt. 
The soldiers are married, and several of them have harems. 
Many of the irregulars would also retire and follow me. Now, 
supposing the regulars refuse to leave, you can imagine that 
my position Avould be a difficult one. Would I be right in leav- 
ing them to their fate? Would it not be consigning them all 
to their ruin? I should have to leave them their arms and am- 
munition, and on retiring, all discipline would be at an end. 
Disputes would arise, and factions would be formed. The 
more ambitious would aspire to be chiefs by force, and from 
these rivalries would spring hate and mutual slaughter until 
there would be none of them left." 

" Supposing you resolve to stay, what of the Egyptians?" 
asked Stanley. 

*' Oh, these I shall have to ask you to be good enough to 
take with you." 

Captain Casati, Emin's Italian lieutenant, stood by; and 
Stanley said to the Pasha: 

"Now, will you. Pasha, do me the favor to ask Captain 
Casati if we are to have the pleasure of his company to the 
sea? For we have been instructed to assist him also should we 
meet." 

Casati answered through the superior officer: 

" What the Governor Emin decides upon shall be the rule 
for me also. If the Governor staj^s, I stay. If the Governor 
goes, I go." 

But the Governor was by no means decided what to do; 
carefully as he weighed the pros and cons, he could not say 



758 . STANXEY EESCUES EMI?? PASHA. 

what was his duty. At last, nearly a month after their meet- 
ing, Stanley obtained from him something like a definite 
promise : 4, 

" If my people leave, I leave; if my people stay, I stay." 

Stanley was now anxious about his rear column under Ma- 
jor Barttelot, of whom he had not heard a word since parting 
from this force in June, 1887. Had the Stanley steamer arrived 
in due time with Messrs. Troup, ^Vard and Bonny, and the one 
hundred and twenty-six men left at Bolobo? Had Tippu Tib 
joined the major according to contract, at Zanzibar? If so, why 
so slow? Unless some serious hitch had taken place, the main 
body must surely have met him or heard of him in February, 
March or April, while at Fort Bodo collecting its convalescents. 
These questions were daily discussed, and numerous conjec- 
tures were made asto the reason for the delay. Indeed, Stan- 
ley felt more anxiety about the rear column, than he had felt 
for Emin Pagha, since to the rear column was confided the 
largest number of stores of every kind. The advance had only 
been a kind of forlorn hope, principally to carry assurance of 
relief. Stanley tells the story of the rear column in a few 
words : 

" On the 16th of June, I left Fort Bodo with one hundred 
and eleven Zanzibaris and one hundred and one of Emin 
Pasha's people. Lieut. Stairs had been appointed commander 
of the Fort, Nelson, second in command, and Surgeon Parke' 
medical officer. The garrison consisted of fifty-nine rifles. I 
had thus deprived myself of all my officers in order that I 
should not be encumbered with baggage and provisions and 
medicines, which would have to be taken if accompanied by 
Europeans, and every carrier was necessary for the vast stores 
left with Major Barttelot. On the 24tli of June we reached 
Kilinga Longa's and July 19th Ugarrowwa's. The latter sta- 
tion was deserted. Ugarrowwa, having gathered as much ivory 
as he could obtain from that district, had proceeded down the 
river about three months before. On leaving Fort Bodo I had 
loaded every carrier with about sixty pounds of corn, so that 
we had been able to pass through the wilderness unscathed. 

'* Passing on down the river as fast as we could go, daily ex- 
pecting to meet the couriers, who had been stimulated to ex- 
ert themselves for a reward of ten pounds a head, or the ma- 
jor himself leading an army of carriers, we indulged ourselves 
in these pleasing anticipations as we neared the goal. 

" On the tenth of August we overtook Ugarrowwa with an 
immense flotilla of fifty-seven canoes, and to our wonder our 



STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 759 

couriers now reduced to seventeen. They related an awful 
story of hair-breadth escapes and tragic scenes. Three of 
their number had been slain, two were still feeble from their 
wounds, all except five bore on their bodies scars of arrow 
wounds. 

"A week later, on August 17, we met the rear column of 
the expedition at a place called Bunalya, or, as the Arabs have 
corrupted it, Unarya. There was a white man at the gate of the 
stockade, who I at first thought was Mr. Jamieson, but a near- 
er view revealed the features of Mr. Bonny, who left the med- 
ical service of the army to accompany us. 

" * Well, my dear Bonny, where is the major?' 

" ' He is dead, sir; shot by the Manyuema about a month 
ago.' 

" 'Good God! And Mr. Jamieson?' 

*** He has gone to Stanley Falls to try and get some more 
men from Tippu Tib.' 

" 'And Mr. Troup?' 

" ' Mr. Troup has gone home, sir, invalided.' 

" ' Hem! Well, where is Ward?' 

" ' Mr. Ward is at Bangala, sir.' 

" ' Heavens alive! Then are you the only one here?' 

'''Yes, sir.' 

"I found the rear column a terrible wreck. Out of two hun- 
dred and fifty-seven men there were only seventy-one remain- 
ing. Out of seventy-one, only fifty-two, on mustering them, 
seemed fit for service, and these were mostly scare-crows. The 
advance had performed the march from Yambuyato Bunalya in 
sixteen days, despite native opposition. The rear column per- 
formed the same distance in forty-three days. According to Mr. 
Bonny, during the thirteen months and twenty days that had 
elapsed since I had left Yambuya, the record is only one of 
disaster, desertion and death. I have not the heart to go into 
the details, many of which are incredible, and, indeed, I have 
not the time, for excepting Mr. Bonny, I have no one to assist 
me in reorganizing the expedition. There are still far more 
loads than I can carry; at the same time articles needful are 
missing. For instance, I left Yambuya with only a short cam- 
paigning kit, leaving my reserve of clothing and personal effects 
in charge of the officers. In December some deserters from 
the advance column reached Yambuya to spread the report 
that I was dead. They had no papers with them, but the offi- 
cers seemed to accept the report of these deserters as a fact, 
and in January Mr. Ward, at an officers' mess meeting, pro- 



STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 761 

posed that my instructions should be canceled. The only one 
who appears to have dissented was Mr. Bonny. Accordingly, 
my personal kit, medicines, soap, candles, and provisions were 
sent down the Congo as ' superfluities ! ' Thus, after making 
this immense personal sacrifice to relieve them and cheer them 
up, I find myself naked, and deprived of even the necessaries 
of life in Africa. But, strange to say, they have kepttwo hats, 
four pairs of boots, and a flannel jacket; and I propose to go 
back to Emin Pasha and across Africa with this truly African 
kit. Livingstone, poor fellow, was all in patches when I met 
him, but it will be the reliever himself who will be in patches 
this time. Fortunately not one of my officers will envy me, 
for their kits are intact — it was only myself that was dead." 

Major Barttelot had fallen because of the treachery of 
Tippu Tib and other Arabs, who had set the natives against 
them. The Major and Mr. Jamieson held a palaver with Tip- 
pu Tib at Stanley Falls, in which Tippu agreed to furnish men 
and supplies on terms agreed. But the slippery old chief 
proved quite treacherous in the carrying out of contracts, and 
to his hidden and crafty hand is now charged the misfortunes 
of the rear guard. The enmity of the Arabs had been excited by 
the knowledge that the strangers were strictly opposed to slave- 
trading, and that their efforts, and those of all their race, 
would eventually put an end to the traffic. In the present in- 
stance, however, they were powerless to prevent even such at- 
tacks upon the natives as they witnessed. One of the officers 
connected with the expedition has furnished materials for an 
account of a fight between the Arabs and natives, which took 
place within sight of the camp on the Aruwimi : 

" It was toward night when the onslaught began. The sud- 
den sound of the war-like drums of the surprised natives came 
booming across the water, followed by the fierce rattle of the 
Arab musketry. Dark figures and light were soon mixed to- 
gether in the fray. The natives fought bravely ; but they fell 
rapidly before the rifle. Pelted with the deadly hail of shot, 
they were soon vanquished. Then from hut to hut, the flames 
of ruin began to spread ; and in the lurid light the women and 
children were marched forth to the slave-hunter's stockade." 

In connection with the rescue of the rear column from its 
position of danger and privation, Mr. Stanley continues: 

" Having gathered such as were left of the rear column, and 
such Manyuemas as were willing of their own accord to ac- 
company me, and entirely re-organized the expedition, we set 
out on our return to the Nyanza. Out of the 102 members re- 



STANLEY KESCUES EMIN PASHA. 763 

maining I doubted whether fifty would live to reach the lake ; 
but, having collected a large number of canoes, the goods and 
sick men were transported in these vessels in such a smooth, 
expeditious manner that there were remarkably few casualties 
in the remnant of th*e rear column. But the wild natives hav- 
ing repeatedly defeated Ugarrowwa's raiders, by this discover- 
ed the extent of their own strength, gave us considerable 
trouble, and inflicted considerable loss among our best men, 
who had always, of course, to bear the brunt of fighting and 
the fatigue of paddling. 

"However, we had no reason to be dissatisfied with the line 
we had made, when progress by river became too tedious and 
difficult, and the order to cast off the canoes was given. This 
was four days' journey above Ugarrowwa's station, or about 
three hundred miles above Banalya. 

"We decided that as the south bank of the Ituri Kiver was 
pretty well known to us, with all its intolerable scarcity and ter- 
rors, it would be best to try the north bank, though we should 
have to traverse for some days the despoiled lands, which had 
been a common center for Ugarrowwa's and Kilinga-Longa's 
bands of raiders. We were about a hundred and sixty miles 
from the grass-land, which opened a prospect of future feasts 
of beef, veal, and mutton, with pleasant variety of vegetables, 
as well as oil and butter for cooking. Bright gossip on such 
subjects by those who had seen the Nyan^a served as stimu- 
lants to the dejected, half-hearted survivors of the rear col- 
umn. 

" On the 30th of October, having cast off the canoes, the land 
march began in good earnest, and two days later discovered a 
large plantain plantation in charge of the dwarfs. The people 
flung themselves on the plantains, to make as large a provision 
as possible for the dreaded wilderness ahead of us. The most 
enterprising always secured a fair share, and twelve hours 
later would be furnished with a week's provision of plantain 
flour. The feeble and indolent reveled for the time being on 
abundance of roasted fruit, but always neglected providing 
for the future, and thus became victims to famine. 

" After moving from this place, ten days passed before we 
reached another plantation, during which time we lost more 
men than we lost between Banalya and Ugarrowwa's. The 
smallpox broke out among the Manyuema and their followers, 
and the mortality was terrible. Our Zanzibaris escaped this 
pest, however, owing to the vaccination they had undergone 
on board the Madura. 



764 STAKLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 

*' We were now about four days' march above the confluence 

of the Ihuru and the Ituri rivers, and within about a mile from 
the Ishuru. As there was no possibility of crossing this vio- 
lent and large tributary of the Ituri or Aruwimi, we had to fol- 
low its right bank until a crossing could be discovered. 

" Four days later, we stumbled across the principal village 
of a district called Andikumu, surrounded by the finest plan- 
tation of bananas and plantains we had yet seen, which all the 
Manyuemas' habit of spoliation and destruction had been un- 
able to destroy. There our people, after severe starvation 
during fourteen days, gorged themselves to such excess that 
it contributed greatly to lessen our numbers. Every twentieth 
individual suffered some complaint which entirely incapacita- 
ted him from duty. 

'*The Ihuru River was about four miles south-south-east 
from this place, flowing from east-north-east, and about sixty 
yards broad, and deep, owing to the heavy rains. 

*' From Andikumu a six days' march northerly brought us 
to another flourishing settlement, called Indeman, situated 
about four hours' march from the river we supposed to be the 
Ihuru. Here I was considerably nonplussed by the grievous 
discrepancy between native accounts and my own observations. 
The natives called it the Ihuru River, and my instruments and 
chronometer made it very evident that it could not be the Ihuru 
we knew. Finally, after capturing some dwarfs, we discover- 
ed that it was the right branch of the Ihuru River, called the 
Dui River. This agreeing with my own views, we searched 
and found a place where we could build a bridge across. Mr. 
Bonny and our Zanzibar chief threw themselves into the work, 
and in a few hours the Dui River was safely bridged, and we 
passed from Indeman into a district entirely unvisited by the 
Manyuema. 

" In this new land, between the right and left branches of 
the Ihuru, the dwarfs called Wambutti were very numerous, 
and conflicts between our rear-guard and these crafty little 
people occurred daily, not without harm to both parties. Such 
as we contrived to capture we compelled to show the path, but 
invariably, for some reason, they clung to the east and east-north- 
east paths, whereas my route required a south-east direction, 
because of the northing we had made in seeking to cross the 
Dui River. Finally, we followed elephant and game tracks on 
a south-east course ; but on the 9th of December we were com- 
pelled to halt for forage in the middle of a vast forest, at a 
spot indicated by my chart to be not more than two or three 



STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 765 

miles from the Ituri River, which many of our people had 
seen when we resided at Fort Bodo. 

"I sent one hundred and fifty rifles back to a settlement that 
was fifteen miles back on the route we had come, while many 
Manyuema followers also undertook to follow them. 

'* I quote from my journal part of what I wrote on December 
14, the sixth day of the absence of the foragers : 

" * Six days have transpired since our foragers left us. For 
the first four days time passed rapidly — I might almost say 
pleasantly — being occupied in recalculating all my observa- 
tions from Ugarrowwa to Lake Albert and down to date, ow- 
ing to a few discrepancies here and there, which my second 
and third visit and duplicate and triplicate observations enable 
me to correct. My occupation then ended, I was left to won- 
der why the large band of foragers did not return. The fifth 
day, having distributed all the stock of flour in camp, and 
killed the only goat we possessed, I was compelled to open 
the oflicer's provision boxes and take a pound pot of butter, 
with two cupfuls of my flour, to make an imitation gruel, 
there being nothing else save tea, coffee, sugar, and a pot of 
sago in the boxes. In the afternoon a boy died, and the con- 
dition of a majority of the rest was most disheartening; some 
could not stand, but fell down in the effort. These constant 
sights acted on my nerves, until I began to feel not only moral 
but physical sympathy as well, as though weakness was conta- 
gious. Before night a Madi carrier died; the last of our So- 
malis gave signs of collapse; the few Soudanese with us were 
scarcely able to move.' 

"The morning of the sixth day dawned. We made the broth 
as usual — a pot of butter, abundance of water, a pot of con- 
densed milk, a cupful of flour for one hundred and thirty peo- 
ple. The chiefs and Mr. Bonny were called to council. 

*' At my suggesting a reverse to the foragers of such nature 
as to exclude our men from returning with news of such a dis- 
aster, they were altogether unable to comprehend such a pos- 
sibility. They believed it possible that these one hundred and 
fifty men were searching for food, without which they would 
not return. They were then asked to consider the supposition 
that they were five days searching for food ; they had lost their 
road, perhaps, or, having no white leader, they had scattered to 
loot goats, and had entirely forgotten their starving friends 
and brothers in camp ; what would be the state of the one hun- 
dred and thirty people five days hence? Mr. Bonny offered to 
stay with ten men in camp, if I provided ten days' food for each 




SAVAGE FOREST TREE-DWELLERS. 



STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 767 

person, while I would set out to search for the missing men. 
Food to make a light cupful of gruel for ten men for ten days 
was not difficult to procure ; but the sick and feeble remaining 
must starve unless I met with good-fortune, and accordingly a 
stone of butter, milk, flour, and biscuits were prepared and 
handed over to the charge of Mr. Bonny. 

* 'The afternoon of the seventh day mustered everybody, be- 
sides the garrison of the camp, ten men. Sadi, the Manyuema 
chief, surrendered fourteen of his men to doom; Kibbo-Bora, 
another chief, abandoned his brother; Fundi, another Man- 
yuema chief, left one of his wives and a little boy. We left 
twenty-six feeble, sick wretches, already past all hope, unless 
food could be brought to them within twenty-four hours. 

** In a cheery tone, though my heart was never heavier, I 
told the forty-three hunger-bitten people that I was going back 
to hunt up the missing men. Probably I should meet them on 
the road, but if I did that they would be driven on the run 
with food to them. We traveled nine miles that afternoon, 
having passed several dead people on the road ; and early on 
the eighth day of their absence from camp, met them march- 
ing in an easy fashion ; but when we were met the pace was 
altered to a quick-step, so that in twenty-six hours from leav- 
ing Starvation Camp we were back with a cheery abundance 
around, gruel and porridge boiling, bananas boiling, plantains 
roasting, and some meat simmering in pots for soup. 

** This had been the nearest approach to starvation in all 
my African experience. Twenty-one persons altogether suc- 
cumbed in this dreadful camp. 

'' On the 17th of December the Ihuru Eiver was reached in 
three hours, and having a presentiment that the garrison of 
Fort Bodo was still where I had left them, the Ihuru was 
crossed the next day, and the two days following, steering 
through the forest, regardless of paths, we had the good for- 
tune to strike the western angle of the Fort Bodo plantations 
on the 20th. 

'* My presentiment was true. Lieutenant Stairs and his gar- 
rison were still in Fort Bodo, fifty-one souls out of fifty-nine, 
and never a word had been heard of Emin Pasha or of Mr. 
Mounteney Jephson during the seven months of my absence. 
Knowing the latter to be an energetic man, we were left to 
conjecture what had detained Mr. Jephson, even if the affairs 
of his province had detained the Pasha. 

** On December 23 the united expedition continued its march 
eastward, and as we now had to work by relays, owing to the 
48 



STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 769 

fifty extra loads that we had stored at the fort, we did not 
reach the Ituri ferry, which was our last camp in the forest 
region, before emerging upon the grass-land, until January 9. 

*' My anxiety about Mr. Jephson and the Pasha would not 
permit me to dawdle on the road, making double trips in this 
manner; so selecting a rich plantation and a good camping- 
site to the east of the Ituri River, I left Lieutenant Stairs in 
command, with one hundred and twenty-four people, includ- 
ing Dr. Parke and Mr. Nelson, in charge of all extra loads and 
camp, and on the 11th of January continued my march east- 
ward. 

" The people of the plains, fearing a repetition of the fight- 
ing of December, 1887, flocked to camp as we advanced, and 
formally tendered their submission, agreeing to contributions 
and supplies. Blood-brotherhood was made, exchange of 
gifts made, and firm friendship was established. The huts of 
our camp were constructed by the natives; food, fuel, and 
water were brought to the expedition as soon as the halting- 
place was decided upon. 

"We heard no news of the white men on Lake Albert from 
the plain people, by which my wonder and anxiety were in- 
creased, until the 16th, at a place called Graviras, messengers 
from Kavalli came with a packet of letters, with one letter 
written on three several dates, with several days' interval be- 
tween, from Mr. Jephson, and two notes from Emin Pasha 
confirming the news in Mr. Jephson 's letter." 

By Mr. Stanley's directions, Mr. Jephson was to go to the 
different stations and read to the people the letters which had 
been brought from the khedive and Nubar Pasha, and also a 
proclamation from Stanley himself to the soldiers. While 
reading these documents at Lahore, the men were inattentive, 
restless, and incredulous. When he had finished reading, and 
Emin Pasha had begun to address a few words to them, a 
burly Soudanese stepped from the ranks, and exclaimed in a 
loud tone : 

" All you are telling us is false; these people have not come 
from Eg3'pt; and these letters are forgeries. There is but one 
road to Egypt, and that is by Khartoom, and we only know 
that road; we will go by that road, or we will live and die in 
this country." 

The Pasha promptly seized the man by the collar, and tried 
to disarm him. Instantly there was the greatest confusion; 
the soldiers surrounded the two white men, and pointed their 
guns at them. The spokesman of the mutineers was rescued 






- .^ 




STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 771 

from the Pasha's grasp ; Emin drew his sword to defend him- 
self, but the officers dashed in between him and the soldiers, 
and struck up their rifles. For a few minutes there had been 
no telling how it would end ; but the immediate' danger was 
averted, and the people finally quieted down. A week later, 
there was a more serious mutiny, but of this let Jephson him- 
self tell, in a letter addressed to his chief: 

"Duffle, November 7, 1888. 

" Dear Sir, — I am writing to tell you of the position of af- 
fairs in this country, and I trust this letter will be delivered to 
you at Kavalli in time to warn you to be careful. 

" On August 18 a rebellion broke out here, and the Pasha 
and I were made prisoners. The Pasha is a complete prisoner, 
but I am allowed to go about the station ; but my movements 
are watched. The rebellion has been got up by some half- 
dozen Egyptians, officers and clerks, and gradually others have 
joined, some through inclination, but most through fear; the 
soldiers, with the exception of those at Lahore, have never 
taken part in it, but have quietly given in to their officers. 

" When the Pasha and I were on our way toEegaf , tw^o men, 
one an officer, Abdul Yaal Effendi, and then a clerk, went 
about and told the people that they had seen you, and that 
you w^ere only an adventurer, and that you had not come from 
Egypt; that the letters which you had brought from the khe- 
dive and Nubar Pasha were forgeries ; that it was untrue that 
Khartoom had fallen, and that the Pasha and you had made a 
plot to take them, their wives and children, out of the coun- 
try and hand them over as slaves to the English. Such words 
in an ignorant and fanatical country like this acted as fire 
among the people, and the result was a general rebellion, and 
we were made prisoners. 

" The rebels then collected officers from the different sta- 
tions, and held a large meeting here to determine what 
measures they should take, and all those who did not join in 
the movement were so insulted and abused that they were 
obliged, for their owm safety, to acquiesce in what was done. 
The Pasha was deposed, and those officers who were suspected 
of being friendly to him were removed from their posts, and 
those friendly to the rebels were put in their places. It was 
decided to take the Pasha as a prisoner to Regaf , and some of 
the worst rebels were even for putting him in irons; but the 
officers were afraid to put their plans into execution, as the 
soldiers said they would never permit any one to lay a hand on 




772-3 



TORTLKIi\(J TfllO MADUl's "PEACOCK " DKKVISI 

{Drawn by Mr. A.\ 




, BY ORDER OF EM IN PASHA 's l^KHKL OKFK'KHS. 
Mounteney Jephson.) 



774 STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 

him. Plans were also made to entrap you when you returned, 
and strip you of all you had. 

*' Things were in this condition, when we were startled by 
the news that the Mahdi's people had arrived at Lado with 
three steamers and nine sandals and nuggers, and had estab- 
lished themselves on the site of the old station. Omar Sali, 
their general, sent up three peacock dervishes with a letter to 
the Pasha (a copy of this will follow, as it contains some inter- 
esting news), demanding the instant surrender of the country. 
The rebel officers seized them and put them in prison." 

While these embassadors were thus outraged, news of Mah- 
dist victories came, and the rebel officers became freshly 
alarmed. They tried to find out from the dervishes some par- 
ticulars of Omar Sali's strength and position, but failed to do 
so. It was decided to wring the information from them by 
torture. Plenty of food was given the dervishes, but absolute- 
ly nothing to drink. For two Avhole days they bore it without 
murmuring; but their impatient jailers decided to use even 
more stringent measures. They again brought the dervishes 
before them, fastened apiece of split bamboo round their heads, 
and had it twisted up so tightly by means of a tourniquet that 
the bamboo cutthrough the flesh to the verybone. The coAvardly 
Egyptians showed a fiendish delight at the sight of these suf- 
ferings; the Soudanese looked on with stolid indifference; 
the female slaves, gathered around to see whatw^as going on, 
sobbed and wrung their hands at sight of the suffering they 
were powerless to alleviate. The dervishes bore the torture 
without a groan, saying only that God through his Prophet 
would avenge them. Their heroic bearing compelled the re- 
spect even of their persecutors; and at last the chief of the 
rebels gave orders that they should be unbound, given water, 
and taken back to prison, where they were carried in a semi- 
conscious condition. 

For weeks they remained here; but the rebels, infuriated by 
their resolution not to betray their comrades, of whose suc- 
cess there was no doubt, resolved that these brave men must 
die; and believing, in their superstitious ignorance, that bul- 
lets would not kill them, clubbed them to death, and threw 
their bodies to the crocodiles. 

Jephson's letter continues : 

*' After a few days the Mahdists attacked and captured Re- 
gaf, killing five officers and a number of soldiers, and taking 
many women and children prisoners, and all the stores and 
ammunition in the station were lost. The resu^ L of this was a 



STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 775 

general stampede of people from the stations of Bidden, Kirri, 
and Muggi, who fled with their women and children to Lahore, 
abandoning almost everything. At Kirri the ammunition was 
abandoned, and was at once seized by the natives. The Pasha 
reckons that the Mahdists number about one thousand ^ve 
hundred. 

* ' The officers and a large number of soldiers have returned 
to Muggi, and intend to make a stand against the Mahdists. 
Our position here is extremely unpleasant, for since the re- 
bellion all is chaos and confusion. There is no head, and half 
a dozen conflicting orders are given every day, and no one 
obeys. The rebel officers are wholly unable to control the 
soldiers. 

******** 

"The Baris have joined the Mahdists. If they come down 
here with a rush, nothing can save us. 

vF Tn^ y^ ^ '7^ ^ V^ ^ 

** The officers are all very much frightened at what has tak- 
en place, and are now anxiously awaiting your arrival, and 
desire to leave the country with you, for they are now really 
persuaded that Khartoom has fallen, and that you have come 
from the Khedive. 

******** 

"We are like rats in a trap; they will neither let us act 
nor retire, and I fear unless you come very soon you will be 
too late, and our fate will be like that of the rest of the gar- 
risons of the Soudan. Had this rebellion not happened, the 
Pasha could have kept the Mahdists in check for some time ; 
but as it is he is powerless to act. 

^ ^ y^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ¥^ . 

" I would suggest, on your arrival at Kavalli, that you 
write a letter in Arabic to Shukri Aga (Chief of Mswa Sta- 
tion), telling him of your arrival, and telling him you wish to 
see the Pasha and myself, and write also to the Pasha or my- 
self, telling us what number of men you have with you. It 
would, perhaps, be better to write to me, as a letter to him 
might be confiscated. * * * Neither the Pasha nor myself 
thinks there is the slightest danger now of any attempt to 
capture you being made, for the people are now fully per- 
suaded that you come from Egypt, and they look to you to get 
them out of their difficulties; still it would be well for you to 
make your camp strong." 

Finding it impossible to send this letter at once, Mr. Jeph- 
son added this postscript under date of Nov. 24: 



776 STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 

'* Shortly after I had written to you the soldiers were led 
by their officers to attempt to retake Regaf , but the Mahdists 
defeated them, and killed six officers and a large number of 
soldiers. Among the officers killed were some of the Pasha's 
worst enemies. The soldiers in all the stations were so pan- 
ic-stricken and angry at what had happened, that they de- 
clared they would not attempt to fight unless the Pasha was set 
at liberty; so the rebel officers were obliged to free him, and 
sent us to Wadelai, where he is free to do as he pleases, but 
at present he has not resumed his authority in the country. 
He is, I believe, by no means anxious to do so. We hope, in a 
few days, to be at Tunguru, a station on the lake, two days by 
steamer from N'Sabe, and I trust when we hear of your arriv- 
al that the Pasha himself will be able to come down with me 
to see you. 

" Our danger as far as the Mahdists are concerned is, of 
course, increased by this last defeat, but our position is in one 
way better now, for we are farther removed from them, and 
we have now the option of retiring if we please, which we had 
not before while we were prisoners. We hear that the Mah- 
dists have sent steamers down to Khartoom for reinforce- 
ments; if so, they cannot be up here for another six weeks. 
If they come up here with reinforcements it will be all up 
with us, for the soldiers will never stand against them, and it 
will be a mere walk over. 

* * ** *■ * * *. 

* ' Every one is anxiously looking for your arrival, for the com- 
ing of the Mahdists has completely cowed them. 

******** 

*' We may just manage to get out — if you do not come later 
than the end of December — ^but it is entirely impossible to fore- 
see what will happen. A. J. M. J. 

" Tunguru, December 18, 1888. 

'* Dear Sir, — Mogo (the messenger) not having yet start- 
ed, I send a second postscript. We are now at Tunguru. On 
November 25 the Mahdists surrounded Duffle Station and be- 
sieged it for four days. The soldiers, of whom there were 
about five hundred, managed to repulse them, and they re- 
tired to Regaf, their headquarters. As they have sent down 
to Khartoom for reinforcements, they doubtless will attack 
again when strengthened. In our flight from Wadelai the of- 
ficers requested me to destroy our boat (the Advance). I there- 
fore broke it up. 

** Duffle is being renovated as fast as possible. * * * * 



STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 777 

The Pasha is unable to move hand or foot, as there is still a 
very strong party against him, and the officers are no longer in 
immediate fear of the Mahdists. 

**Do not on any account come down to Usate (my former 
camp on the lake, near Kavalli's Island), but make your camp 
at Kavalli (on the plateau above). Send a letter directly you 
arrive there, and as soon as we hear of your arrival I will come 
to you. I will not disguise the fact from you that you will 
have a difficult and dangerous work before you in dealing 
with the Pasha's people. I trust you will arrive before the 
Mahdists are reinforced, or our case will be desperate." 

Remembering Emin Pasha's indecision about leaving his 
people, Stanley comments upon these letters: 

"Here, then, on January 16, 1889, I receive this batch of 
letters and two notes from the Pasha himself confirming the 
above, but not a word from either Mr. Jephson or the Pasha 
indicative of the Pasha's purpose. Did he still waver, or was 
he at last resolved? With any other man than the Pasha or 
Gordon, one would imagine that, being a prisoner, and a fierce 
enemy hourly expected to give the coup mortel, he would glad- 
ly embrace the first opportunity to escape from a country giv- 
en up by his government. But there was no hint in these let- 
ters what course the Pasha would follow. 

" I wrote a formal letter, which might be read by any per- 
son, the Pasha, Mr. Jephson, or any of the rebels, and ad- 
dressed it to Mr. Jephson, as requested; but on a separate 
sheet of paper I wrote a private postscript for Mr. Jephson's 
perusal : 

" ' Kavalli, January 18, 1889, 3 P. M. 

" *My dear Jephson, — I now send thirty rifles and three of 
Kavalli's men down to the lake with my letters, with urgent 
instructions that a canoe should set oii and the bearers be 
rewarded. 

*' 'I may be able to stay longer than six days here, perhaps 
for ten days. I will do my best to prolong my stay until you 
arrive, without rupturing the peace. Our people have a good 
store of beads, cowries, and cloth, and I notice that the na- 
tives trade very readily, which will assist Kavalli's resources 
should he get uneasy under our prolonged visit. 

" 'Be wise, be quick, and waste no hour of time, and bring 
Buiza and your own Soudanese with you. I have read your 
letters half a dozen times over, but I fail to grasp the situa- 
tion thoroughly, because in some important details one letter 
seems to contradict the other. In one you say the Pasha is 



778 STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 

a close prisoner, while you are allowed a certain amount of 
liberty; in the other you say that you will come to me as soon 
as you hear of our arrival here, and '* I trust," you say, **the 
Pasha will be able to accompany me." Being prisoners, 
I fail to see how you could leave Tunguru at all. All this is 
not very clear to us. who are fresh from the bush. 

** 'If the Pasha can come, send a courier, on your arrival at 
our old camp on the lake below here, to announce the fact, 
and I will send a strong detachment to escort him up to the 
plateau, even to carry him, if he needs it. I feel too ex- 
hausted after my thirteen hundred miles of travel since I 
parted from you last May, to go down to the lake again. The 
Pasha must have some pity for me. 

*' 'Don't be alarmed or uneasy on our account; nothing hos- 
tile can approach us within twelve miles without my know- 
ing it. I am in the thickest of a friendly population, and if I 
sound the war-note, within four hours I can have two thou- 
sand warriors to assist to repel any force disposed to violence. 
And if it is to be a war of wits, why, then, I am ready for the 
cunningest Arab alive. 

'* 'I wrote above that I read your letters half a dozen times, 
and my opinion of you varies with each reading. Sometimes 
I fancy you are half Mahdist or Arabist, and then Eminist. I 
shall be wiser when I see you. 

Hi * * * Now, don't you be perverse, but obey, and let 
my order to you be as a frontlet between the eyes, and all, 
with God's gracious help, will end well. 

" 'I want to help the Pasha somehow, but he must also help 
me, and credit me. If he wishes to get out of this trouble, I am 
his most devoted servant and friend, but if he hesitates again I 
shall be plunged in wonder and perplexity. I could save a 
dozen Pashas if they were willing to be saved. I would go on 
my knees to implore the Pasha to be sensible in his own case. 
He is wise enough in all things else, even his own interest. Be 
kind and good to him for many virtues, but do not you be 
drawn into the fatal fascination Soudan territory seems to 
have for all Europeans of late years. As soon as they touch 
its ground they seem to be drawn into a whirlpool which 
sucks them in and covers them with its waves. The only way 
to avoid it is to obey blindly, devotedly, and unquestioningly all 
orders from the outside. 

" 'The Committee said: " Relieve Emin Pasha with this am- 
munition. If he wishes to come out, the ammunition will en- 
able him to do so ; if he elects to stay, it will be of service to 



STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 779 

him." The khedive said the same thing, and added, **Butifthe 
Pasha and his officers wish to stay, they do so on their own re- 
sponsibility." Sir Evelyn Baring said the same thing in clear 
and decided words, and here I am, after 4100 miles of travel, 
with the last instalment of relief. Let him who is authorized 
to take it, take it. Come; I am ready to lend him all my 
strength and wit to assist him. But this time there must be no 
hesitation, but positive yea or nay, and home we go.' " 

Until Mr. Jephson's arrival, Stanley could not tell just what 
the plans for the future must be. The subordinate arrived 
at the camp at Kavalli on the afternoon of February 6. The 
great explorer continues : 

** I was startled to hear Mr. Jephson say, in plain, undoubt- 
ing words, * Sentiment is the Pasha's worst enemy; no one 
keeps Emin Pasha back but Emin Pasha himself.' This is a 
summary of what Mr. Jephson learned during nine months, 
from May 25, 1888, to February 6, 1889. I gathered sufficient 
from Mr. Jephson's verbal report to conclude that during nine 
months neither the Pasha, Signor Casati, nor any man in the 
province, had arrived nearer any other conclusion than that 
which was told us ten months before. Thus: 

*'The Pasha: * If my people go, I go; if they stay, I stay.' 

*'Signor Casati: 'If the governor goes, I go; if the gov- 
ernor stays, I stay.' 

" The Faithful : ' If the Pasha goes, we go; if the Pasha 
stays, we stay.' 

"However, the diversion in our favor created by the Mah- 
dists' invasion, and the dreadful slaughter they made of all 
they met, inspired us with a hope that we could get an an- 
swer at last, though Mr. Jephson could only reply : * I really 
cannot tell you what the Pasha means to do. He says he 
wishes to go away, but will not make a move; no one will 
move. It is impossible to say what any man will do. Per- 
haps another advance by the Mahdists would send them all 
pell-mell towards you, to be again irresolute, and requiring 
several weeksj rest to consider again.' 

" In February I despatched a company to the Steam Ferry, 
with orders to Mr. Stairs to hasten with his column to Ka- 
valli with a view to concentrate the expedition ready for any 
contingency. Couriers were also despatched to the Pasha, tell- 
ing him of our movements and intentions, and asking him to 
point out how we could best aid him. Whether it would be best 
for us to remain at Kavalli, or whether we should advance in- 
to the province, and assist him at Mswa or Tunguru Island, 



780 STANLEY KESCUES EMIN PASHA. 

where Mr. Jephson had left him. I suggested the simplest 
plan for him would be to seize a steamer and employ her in 
the transport of the refugees (who. I heard, were collected in 
numbers at Tunguru) to my old camp on the Nyanza, or that, 
failing a steamer, he should march overland from Tunguru to 
Mswa, and send a canoe to inform me he had done so, and a 
few days after I could be at Mswa, with two hundred and 
fifty rifles, to escort them to Kavalli. But the demand was 
for something positive, otherwise it would be my duty to de- 
troy the ammunition and march homeward. 

*'0n the 13th of February a native courier appeared in 
camp with a letter from Emin Pasha, with news which elec- 
trified us. He was actually at anchor just below our plateau 
camp. But here is the formal letter: 

" 'Camp, February 13, 1889. 
" 'To Henry M. Stanley, Esq., Commanding the Relief Expedition. 

" 'Sir, — In answer to your letter of the 7th inst., for which 
I beg to tender my best thanks, I have the honor to inform 
you that yesterday I arrived here with my two steamers, car- 
rying a first lot of people desirous to leave this country un- 
der your escort. As soon as I have arranged for cover of my 
people, the steamships have to start for Mswa Station, to 
bring on another lot of people awaiting transport. 

*' 'With me there are some twelve officers anxious to see you, 
and only forty soldiers. They have come under my orders to 
request you to give them some time to bring their brothers — 
at least such as are willing to leave — from Wadelai, and I 
promised to do my best to assist them. Things having now to 
some extent changed, you will be able to make them undergo 
such conditions as you see fit to impose upon them. To 
arrange these I shall start from here with the officers for your 
camp, after having provided for the camp. * * * 

" 'I hope sincerely that the great difficulties you have had to 
undergo, and the great sacrifices made by your expedition on 
its way to assist us, may be rewarded by a full success in 
bringing out my people. The wave of insanity jv^hich overran 
the country has subsided, and of such people as are now com- 
ing with me we may be sure. 

" 'Signor Casati requests me to give you his best thanks for 
your kind remembrance of him. 

" 'Permit me to express once more my cordial thanks for 
whatever you have done to us until now, and believe me to be 

" ' Yours very faithfully, 

" 'Dr. Emin.' " 



STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 781 

From Mr. Jephson's written report of all that he had 
learned of the condition of affairs during the time that he had 
been with Emin Pasha, we select the following paragraphs: 

*'And this leads me now to say a few words concerning the 
position of affairs in this country when I entered it on April 
21, 1888. The 1st Battalion, about seven hundred rifles, had 
long been in rebellion against the Pasha's authority, and had 
twice attempted to make him prisoner. The 2d Battalion, 
about six hundred and fifty rifles, though professedly loyal, was 
insubordinate and almost unmanageable. The Pasha possessed 
only a resemblance, a mere rag of authority ; and if he required 
anything of importance to be done, he could no longer order, 
he was obliged to beg his oflicers to do it. 

" Now, when we were at N'sabe, in May, 1888, though the 
Pasha hinted that things were a little difficult in his country, 
he never revealed to us the true state of things, which was 
actually desperate, and we had not the slightest idea that any 
mutiny or discontent was likely to arise among his people. 
We thought, as most people in Europe and Egypt had been 
taught to believe by the Pasha's own letters and Dr. Junker's 
later representations, that all his difficulties arose from events 
outside of his country, whereas, in point of fact, his real dan- 
ger arose from internal dissensions ; thus we were led to place 
our trust in people who were utterly unworthy of our confidence 
or help, and who, instead of being grateful to us for wishing 
to help them, have from the very first conspired how to plun- 
der the expedition and turn us adrift; and had the mutineers, 
in their highly excited state, been able to prove one single 
case of injustice or cruelty or neglect of his people against 
the Pasha, he would most assuredly have lost his life in this 
rebellion. 

*'Asto the Pasha's wish to leave the country, I can say 
decidedly he is most anxious to go out with u^, but under 
what conditions he will consent to come out I can hardly un- 
derstand. I do not think he quite knows himself, his ideas 
seem to me to vary so much on the subject; to-day he is ready 
to start up and go, to-morrow some new idea holds him back. 
I have had many conversations with him about it, but have 
never been able to get his unchanging opinion on the sub- 
ject. After this rebellion I remarked to him, 'I presume, 
now that your people have deposed you, and put you aside, you 
do not consider that you have any longer any responsibility or 
obligations concerning them;' and he answered, 'Had they 
not deserted me, I should have felt bound to stand by them 



782 



STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 



and help them in any way I could; but now I consider I am 
absolutely free to think only of my own personal safety and 
welfare, and if I get the chance, I shall go out regardless of 




Emin Pasha in Camp. 

everything.' And yet only a few days before I left him he 
said to me : * I know I am not in any way responsible for these 



STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 783 

people, but I cannot bear to go out myself first and leave any 
one here behind me who is desirous of quitting the country. 
It is mere sentiment,! know, and, perhaps, a sentiment you will 
not sympathize with; but my enemies at Wadelai wouldpoint 
at me and say to the people, "You see he has deserted you ! " ' 
These are merely two examples of what passed between us on 
the subject of his going out with us, but I could quote num- 
bers of things he has said all equally contradictory. Again, 
too, being somewhat impatient after one of these unsatisfac- 
tory conversations, I said, ' If ever the expedition does reach 
any place near you, I shall advise Mr. Stanley to arrest you 
and carry you off whether you will or no;' to which he re- 
plied: VWell, I shall do nothing to prevent you doing that.' 
It seems to me that if we are to save him, we must save him 
from himself. 

" Before closing my report I must bear witness to the fact 
that in my frequent conversations with all sorts and conditions 
of people, I heard, with hardly any exceptions, only praise of his 
justice and generosity to his people; but I have heard it sug- 
gested that he did not hold his people with a sufficiently 
firm hand." 

The remainder of the story regarding the great explorer's 
stay in the heart of Africa with the man whom he had come to 
rescue shall be told in his own words : 

*' On the 17th of February Emin Pasha and a following of 
about sixty-five people, inclusive of Selim Bey, or Colonel 
Selim, and seven other officers, who were a deputation sent by 
the officers of the Equatorial Province, arrived at my camp on 
the plateau near Kavalli's village. The Pasha was in mufti, 
but the deputation were in uniform, and made quite a sensation 
in the country; three of them were Egyptians, but the others 
were Nubians, and were rather soldierly in their appearance, 
and with one or two exceptions, received warm commenda- 
tions from the Pasha. The divan was to be held the next day. 

" On the 18th Lieutenant Stairs arrived with his column — 
largely augmented by Mazamboni's people — from the Ituri 
River, and the expedition was once more united. 

'* At the meeting which was held in the morning, Selim 
Bey — who had lately distinguished himself at Duffle by retak- 
ing the station from the Mahdists and killing about two hun- 
dred and fifty of them, it was said — a tall, burly, elderly man 
of fifty or thereabouts, stated, on behalf of the deputation and 
the officers at Wadelai, that they came to ask for time to al- 
low the troops and their families to assemble at Kavalli's. 



784 STANLEY RESCUES EMIIST PASHA. 

*' Though they knew what our object in coming to the Ny- 
anza was — of they ought to have known — I took the occasion 
through the Pasha, who is thoroughly proficient in Arabic, to 
explain it in detail. I wondered at the ready manner they ap- 
proved everything, though since I have discovered that such is 
their habit, though they may not believe a word you utter. I 
then told them that though I had waited nearly a year to ob- 
tain a simple answer to the single question whether they would 
stay in Africa or accompany us to Egypt, I would give them 
before they departed a promise, written in Arabic, that I 
would stay a reasonable time, sufficient to enable them to em- 
bark themselves and families, and all such as were willing to 
leave, on board the steamers, and to arrive at the lake shore 
below our camp. 

*' The deputation replied that my answer was quite satisfac- 
tory, and they promised on their part, that they would pro- 
ceed direct to Wadelai, proclaim to all concerned what my an- 
swer was, and commence the work of transport. 

" On the 21st the Pasha and the deputation went down to 
the Nyanza camp on account of a false alarm about the Wan- 
yoro advancing to attack the camp. A rifle was stolen from 
the expedition by one of the officers of the deputation. This 
was a bad beginning of our intercourse that promised to be. 

" The two steamers Khedive and Nyanza had gone in the 
meantime to Mswa, to transport a fresh lot of refugees, and 
returned on the 25th, and the next day the deputation depart- 
ed on their mission; but before they sailed, they had a mail 
from Wadelai, wherein they were informed that another 
change of government had taken place. Selim Bey, the high- 
est official under the Pasha, had been deposed, and several of 
the rebel officers had been promoted to the rank of bey. The 
next day the Pasha returned to our camp, with his little daugh- 
ter Ferida, and a caravan of one hundred and forty-four men. 

" To a question of mine the Pasha replied that he thought 
twenty days a sufficiently reasonable time for all practical pur- 
poses, and he offered to write it down in form. But this I de- 
clined, as I but wished to know whether my idea of a reason- 
able time and his differed; for, after finding what time was 
required for a steamer to make a round voyage from our old 
camp on the Nyanza to Wadelai and back, I had proposed to 
myself that a month would be more than sufficient for Selim 
Bey to collect all such people as desired to leave for Egypt. 
The interval devoted to the transport of the Egyptians from 
Wadelai could be utilized by Surgeon Parke in healing our 



STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 785 

sicl?:. At this time the hardest worked man in the expedition 
was our surgeon. Ever since leaving Fort Bodo, in Decem- 
ber, Surgeon Parke attended over a hundred sick daily. There 
were all kinds of complaints, but the most numerous, and 
those who gave the most trouble, were those who suffered 
from ulcers. So largely had these drained our medicine chests 
that the surgeon had nothing left for their diseases but pure 
carbolic acid and permanganate of potash. Nevertheless, there 
were some wonderful recoveries during the halt of Stairs's col- 
umn on the Ituri River in January. The surgeon's ' devotion' 
— there is not a fitter word for it — his regular attention to all 
the minor details of his duties, and his undoubted skill, en- 
abled him to turn out 280 able-bodied men by the 1st of April, 
sound in vital organs and limbs, and free from all blemish; 
whereas on the 1st of February it would have been difficult to 
have mustered two hundred men in the ranks fit for service. I 
do not think I ever met a doctor who so loved his ' cases.' To 
him they were all ' interesting,' despite the odors emitted and 
the painfully qualmish scenes. I consider this expedition in 
nothing happier than in the possession of an unrivaled physi- 
cian and surgeon, Dr. F. H. Parke, of the A. M. D. 

** Meantime, while 'our doctor' was assiduously dressing and 
trimming up the ulcerous, ready for the march to Zanzibar, 
all men fit for duty were doing far more than either we or 
they bargained for. We had promised the Pasha to assist his 
refugees to the Plateau Camp with a few carriers — that is, as 
any ordinary man might understand it, with one or two carriers 
per Egyptian; but never had people so grossly deceived them- 
selves as we had. The loads were simply endless, and the 
sight of the rubbish which the refugees brought with them, 
and which was to be carried up that plateau slope, up to an 
altitude of two thousand eight hundred feet above the Nyan- 
za, made our people groan aloud — such things as grinding- 
stones, ten-gallon copper cooking-pots, some two hundred 
bedsteads, preposterously big baskets, like Falstaff' s buck- 
basket ; old Saratoga trunks, fit for rich American mammas ; old 
sea-chests, great clumsy-looking boxes, little cattle-troughs, 
large twelve-gallon pombe jars, parrots, pigeons, etc. These 
things were pure rubbish — for all w^ould have to be discarded 
at the signal»to march. Eight hundred and fifty-three loads of 
these goods were, however, brought up with the assistance of 
the natives, subject as they were to be beaten and maltreated 
by the vile-tempered Egyptians, each time the natives went 
down to the Nyanza. But the Zanzibaris now began to show 



STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 787 

an ugly temper also. They knew just enough Arabic to be 
aware that the obedience, tractability, and ready services they 
exhibited were translated by the Egyptians into cowardice and 
slavishness, and after these hundreds of loads had been con- 
veyed they refused point-blank to carry any more, and they 
explained their reasons so well that we warmly sympathized 
with them at heart; but here, by this refusal, they came in 
contact with discipline, and strong measures had to be resort- 
ed to, to coerce them to continue the work until the order to 
' cease' was given. On the 31st of March we were all heartily 
tired of it, and we abandoned the interminable task. Thirteen 
hundred and fift^^-five loads had been transported to the plat- 
eau from the Lake Camp. 

"Thirty days after Selim Bey's departure for Wadelai a 
steamer appeared before the Nyanza camp, bringing in a let- 
ter from that officer, and also one from all the rebel officers at 
Wadelai, who announced themselves as delighted at hearing, 
twelve months after my second appearance at Lake Albert, that 
the ' Envoy of our great Government,' had arrived, and that 
they were now all unanimous for departing to Egypt under my 
escort. 

" When the Pasha had mastered the contents of his mails 
he came to impart to me the information that Selim Bey had 
caused one steamerfiil of refugees to be sent up to Tunguru 
from AVadelai, and since that time he had been engaged in 
transporting people from Duffle up to Wadelai. According to 
this rate of progress, it became quite clear that it would re- 
quire three months more, even with this effort at work, which 
was quite heroic in Selim Bey, before he could accomplish the 
transport of the people to the Nyanza Camp below the pla- 
teau. The Pasha, personally elated at what he thought to 
be good news, desired to know what I had determined upon, 
under the new aspect of affairs. 

" In reply, I summoned the officers of the expedition to- 
gether — Lieutenant Stairs, R. E., Captain R. H. Nelson, Sur- 
geon T. H. Parke, A. M. D., Mounteney Jephson, Esq., and 
Mr. William Bonny — and proposed to them, in the Pasha's 
presence, that they should listen to a few explanations, and 
then give their decision one by one, according as they should 
be asked. 

" ' Gentlemen, Emin Pasha has received a mail from Wade- 
lai. Selim Bey, who left the post below here on the 26th Feb- 
ruary last, with a promise that he would hurry up such people 
as wished to go to Egypt, writes from Wadelai that the steam- 




788-9 



MEETING OF EMIN r.\ 
{From a Drawing by an 




L AND MR. STANLEY. 

cer of the Expedition.) 



790 STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 

ers are engaged in transporting some people from Duffle to 
Wadelai — that the work of transport between Wadelai and 
Tunguru will be resumed upon the accomplishment of the oth- 
er task. When he went away from here we were informed that 
he was deposed, and that Emin Pasha and he were sentenced 
to death by the rebel officers. We now learn that the rebel 
officers, ten in number, and all their faction, are desirous of 
proceeding to Egypt; we may suppose, therefore, that Selim 
Bey's party is in the ascendant again. 

' ' 'Shukri Aga, the chief of the Mswa Station (the station near- 
est to us) paid us a visit there in the middle of March. He was 
informed on the the 16th of March, the day that he departed, 
that our departure for Zanzibar would positively begin on the 
10th of April. He took with him urgent letters for Selim Bey, 
announcing that fact in unmistakable terms. 

" 'Eight days later we hear that Shukri Aga is still as Mswa, 
having only sent a few women and children to the Nyanza 
Camp, yet he and his people might have been here by this if 
they intended to accompany us. 

" 'Thirty days ago Selim Bey left us with a promise of a 
reasonable time. The Pasha thought once that twenty days 
would be a reasonable time. However, we have extended it 
to forty-four days. Judging by the length of time Selim Bey 
has already taken, only reaching Tunguru with one-sixteenth 
of the expected force, I personally am quite prepared to give 
the Pasha my decision. For you must know, gentlemen, that 
the Pasha, having heard from Selim Bey "intelligence so en- 
couraging," wishes to know my decision, but I have preferred 
to call you to answer for me. 

*' 'You are aware that our instructions were to carry relief to 
Emin Pasha, and to escort such as were willing to accompany 
us to Egypt. We arrived at the Nyanza, and met Emin Pasha 
in the latter part of April, 1888, just twelve months ago. We 
handed him his letters from the khedive and the government, 
and also the first instalment of relief, and asked him whether 
we were to have the pleasure of his company to Zanzibar. He 
replied that his decision depended on that of his people. 

" 'This was the first adverse news that we received. Instead 
of meeting with a number of people only too anxious to leave 
Africa, it was questionable whether there would be any except 
a few Egyptian clerks. With Major Barttelot so far distant 
in the rear, we could not wait at the Nyanza for this decision. 
As that might possibly require months, it would be more prof- 
itable to seek and assist the rear column, and by the time we 



STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 791 

arrived here again, those willing to go to Egypt would proba- 
bly be impatient to start. We, therefore, leaving Mr. Jephson 
to convey our message to the Pasha's troops, returned to the 
forest region for the rear column, and in nine months were 
back again on the Nyanza. But instead of discovering a camp 
of people anxious and ready to depart from Africa, we found 
no camp at all, but hear that both the Pasha and Mr. Jeph- 
son are prisoners, that the Pasha has been in imminent danger 
of his life from the rebels, and at another time is in danger of 
being bound on his bedstead, and taken to the interior of Mak- 
karaka country. It has been current talk in the province that 
we were only a party of conspirators and adventurers, that the 
letters of the khedive and Nubar Pasha were forgeries con- 
cocted by the vile Christians, Stanley and Casati, assisted by 
Mohammed Emin Pasha. So elated have the rebels been by 
their bloodless victory over the Pasha and Mr. Jephson that 
they have confidently boasted of their purpose to entrap me 
by cajoling words, and strip our expedition of every article 
belonging to it, and send us adrift into the wilds to perish. 
We need not dwell on the ingratitude of these men, or on 
their intense ignorance and evil natures, but you must bear 
in mind the facts to guide you to a clear decision. 

*' 'We believed when we volunteered for this work that we 
should be met with open arms. We were received with indif- 
ference, until we were led to doubt whether any people wish- 
ed to depart. My representative was made a prisoner, men- 
aced with rifles ; threats were freely used. The Pasha was de- 
posed, and for three months was a close prisoner. I am told 
this is the third revolt in the province. Well, in the face of 
all this, we have waited nearly twelve months to obtain the 
few hundreds of unarmed men, women and children in this 
camp. As I promised Selim Bey and his officers that I would 
give a reasonable time, Selim Bey and his officers repeatedly 
promised us there should be no delay. The Pasha has already 
fixed April 10, which extended their time to forty-four days, 
sufficient for three round voyages for each steamer. The news 
brought to-day is not that Selim Bey is close here, but that he 
has not started from Wadelai yet. 

'* 'In addition to his own friends, who are said to be loyal 
and obedient to him, he brings the ten rebel officers, and some 
six hundred or seven hundred soldiers, their faction. 

" 'Remembering these three revolts which these same officers 

have inspired, their pronounced intentions against this expedi- 

ition, their plots and counterplots, the life of conspiracy and 
49 



792 STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 

smiling treachery they have led, we may well pause to consider 
what object principally animates them now — that from being un- 
governably rebellious against all constituted authority, they have 
suddenly become obedient and loyal soldiers to the khedive and 
his ' great government. ' You must be aware that, exclusive 
of the thirty-one boxes of ammunition delivered to the Pasha 
by us in May, 1888, the rebels possess ammunition of the Pro- 
vincial Government equal to about twenty of our cases. We 
are bound to credit them with intelligence enough to perceive 
that such a small supply would be fired in an hour's fight- 
ing among so many rifles, and that only a show of submission 
and apparent loyalty will insure a further supply from us. 
Though the Pasha brightens up each time he obtains a plausi- 
ble letter from these people, strangers like we are may also be 
forgiven for not readily trusting those men whom they have 
such good cause to mistrust. Could we have some guarantee 
of good faith, there would be no objection to delivering to 
them all that they required; that is, with the permission of 
the Pasha. Can we be certain, however, that if we admit 
them to this camp as good friends and loyal soldiers of Egypt, 
they will not rise some night and possess themselves of all the 
ammunition, and so deprive us of the power of returning to 
Zanzibar? It would be a very easy matter for them to do so, 
after they had acquired a knowledge of the rules of the camp. 
With our minds filled with Mr. Jephson's extraordinary rev- 
elations of what has been going on in the provinces since the 
closing of the Nile route, beholding the Pasha here before 
my very eyes, who was lately supposed to have several thou- 
sands of people under him, but now without any important 
following, and bearing in mind the cajolings and wiles by 
which we were to be entrapped, I ask you would we be wise in 
extending the time of delay beyond the date fixed; that is, the 
10th of April?' 

*' The officers, one after another, replied in the negative. 

** 'There, Pasha,' I said, * you have your answer. We 
march on the 10th of April.' 

*'The Pasha then asked if we could 'in our consciences 
acquit him of having abandoned his people,' supposing they 
had not arrived by the 10th of April. We replied, ' Most 
certainly.' 

"Three or four days after this, I was informed by the Pasha 
(who pays great deference to Captain Casati's views) that 
Captain Casati was by no means certain that he was doing 
quite right in abandoning his people. According to the Pasha's 



STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 793 

desire, I went over to see Captain Casati, followed soon after 
by Emin Pasha. 

"Questions of law, honor, duty, w^ere brought forward by 
Casati, who expressed himself clearly that ' moralement ' 
Emin Pasha was bound to stay by his people. I quote these 
matters simply to show you that our principal difficulties lay 
not only with the Soudanese and Egyptians ; we had some with 
the Europeans also, who, for some reason or another, seemed in 
nowise inclined to quit Africa, even when it was quite clear 
that the Pasha of the province had few loyal men to rely on, 
that the outlook before themw^as imminent danger and death, 
and that on our retirement there was no other prospect than 
the grave. I had to refute these morbid ideas with the A B 
C of common-sense. I had to illustrate the obligations of 
Emin Pasha to his soldiers by comparing them to a mutual 
contract between two parties. One party refused to abide by 
its stipulations, and would have no communication with the 
other, but proposed to itself to put the second party to death. 
Could that be called a contract? Emin Pasha was appointed 
governor of the province. He had remained faithful to his 
post and duties untiPhis own people rejected him, and finally 
deposed him. He had been informed by his government that 
if he and his officers elected to quit the province, they could 
avail themselves of the escort of the expedition which had 
been sent to their assistance, or stay in Africa on their own 
responsibility ; that the government had abandoned the prov- 
ince altogether. But when the Pasha informs his people of 
the government's wishes, the officers and soldiers declare the 
whole to be false, and decline to depart with him, will listen 
to no suggestion of departing, but lay hands on him, menace 
him with death, and for three months detain him a close pris- 
oner. Where was the dishonor to the Pasha in yielding to 
what was inevitable and indisputable? As for duty, the Pasha 
had a dual duty to perform — that to the khedive as his chief, 
and that to his soldiers. So long as neither duty clashed, af- 
fairs proceeded smoothly enough; but the instant it was hint- 
ed to the soldiers that they might retire now if they wished, 
they broke out into open violence and revolted, absolved the 
Pasha of all duty toward them, and denied that he had any 
duty to perform toward them; consequently the Pasha could 
not be morally bound to care in the least for people who 
would not listen to him. 

" I do not think Casati was convinced, nor do I think the 
Pasha was convinced. But it is strange what strong hold this 



794 STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 

part of Africa has upon the affections of European officers, 
Egyptian officers, and Soudanese soldiers! 

" The next day after this, Emin Pasha informed me that he 
was certain all the EgyjDtians in the camp would leave with 
him on the day named ; but from other quarters reports reach- 
ed me that not one-quarter of them would leave the camp at 
Kavalli's. The abundance of food, and quiet demeanor of the 
natives, with whom we were living in perfect concord, seemed 
to them to be sufficient reasons for preferring life near the Nyan- 
zato the difficulties of the march. Besides, the Mahdists, whom 
they dreaded, were far away, and could not possibly reach 
them. 

" On the 5th of April, Screen, the Pasha's servant, told 
me that not many of the Pasha's serva*nts intended to follow 
him on the 10th. The Pasha himself confirmed this. Here 
was a disappointment indeed ! Out of the ten thousand peo- 
ple, there were finally comparatively very few willing to follow 
him to Egypt. To all of us on the expedition it had been clear 
from the beginning that it was all a farce on the part of the 
Wadelai force. It was clear that the Pasha had lost his hold 
over the people, neither officers, soldiers, nor servants were 
ready to follow him ; but we could not refute the Pasha's ar- 
guments, nor could we deny that he had reason for his stout, 
unwavering faith in them, when he would reply, ' I know my 
people; for fifteen years I have been with them, and I believe 
that when I leave, all will follow me.' When the rebels' let- 
ters came announcing their intention to follow their govern- 
or, he exclaimed, ' You see ! I told you so ! ' 

*' But now the Pasha said: 'Never mind, I am something of 
a traveler myself. I can do with two servants quite as well as 
with fifty.' 

" I did not think I should be drawn into this matter at all, 
having formed my own plans some time before; but it ijitensi- 
fied my feelings greatly when I was told that, after waiting 
forty-four days, building their camps for them, and carrying 
nearly fourteen hundred loads for them up that high plateau 
wall, only a few out of the entire number would follow us. 
But on the day after I was informed that there had been an 
alarm in my camp the night before; the Zanzibari quarters 
had been entered by the Pasha's people, and an attempt made 
to abstract the rifles. This it was which urged me to immedi- 
ate action. 

" I knew there had been conspiracies in the camp, that 
the malcontents were increasing, that we had many rebels at 



STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASH.4. 795 

heart among us, that the people dreaded the march more than 
they feared the natives; but I scarcely believed that they 
would dare to put into practice their disloyal ideas in my camp. 

'* I proceeded to the Pasha to consult with him, but the 
Pasha would consent to no proposition — not but what they 
appeared necessary and good, but he could not, owing to 
the want of time, etc. Yet the Pasha the evening before had 
received a post from Wadelai which brought him terrible tales 
of disorder, distress and helplessness among Selim Bey and 
his faction, and the rebels and their adherents. 

*' I accordingly informed him that I proposed to act imme- 
diately, and would ascertain for myself what this hidden danger 
in the camp was, and as the first step, I would be obliged if the 
Pasha would signal for general muster of the principal Egyp- 
tians in the square of the camp. 

" The summons being sounded, and not attended to quickly 
enough to satisfy me, half a company of Zanzibaris were de- 
tailed to take sticks and rout every one from their huts. Dis- 
mayed by these energetic measures, they poured into the square, 
which was surrounded by rifles. 

" On being questioned, they denied all knowledge of the 
plot to steal the rifles from us, or to fight, or to withstand in 
any manner any order. It was then proposed that those who 
desired to accompany us to Zanzibar should step on one side. 
They all hastened to one side except two of the Pasha's ser- 
vants. The rest of the Pasha's people, having paid no atten- 
tion to the summons, were secured in their huts, and brought 
to the camp square, where some were flogged, and some were 
ironed and put under guard. 

"'Now, Pasha,' I said, *will you be good enough to tell 
these Arabs that these rebellious tricks of Wadelai and Dufile 
must cease here, for at the first move made by them I shall be 
obliged to exterminate them utterly. * * ' 

" On the Pasha translating, the Arabs bowed, and vowed 
that they would obey their father religiously. 

"At the muster this curious result was returned: There 
were with us 134 men, 84 married women, 187 female domes- 
tics, 74 children above two years, and 35 infants in arms; to- 
tal, 514. 

" I have reason to believe that the number was nearer 600, 
as many were not reported, from a fear, probably, that some 
would be taken prisoners. 

" On the 10th of April, we set out from Kavalli's in num- 
ber about 1500, for 350 native carriers had been enrolled from 



STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 797 

the district to assist in carrying the baggage of the Pasha's 
people, whose ideas as to what was essential for the march 
were very crude. On the 12th we camped at Mazamboni's; 
but in the night I was struck down with a severe illness, which 
well-nigh proved mortal. It detained us at the camp twenty- 
eight days, which, if Selim Bey and his party were really seri- 
ous in their intention to withdraw from Africa, was most for- 
tunate for them, since it increased their time allowance to 
seventy-two days. But in all this interval only Shukri Aga, 
the chief at Mswa Station, appeared. He had started with 
twelve soldiers, but one by one disappeared, until he had on- 
ly his trumpeter and one servant. A few days after, thetrump,- 
eter absconded. Thus only one servant was left out of a gar- 
rison of sixty men, who were reported to be the faithfulest of 
the faithful. 

'* During my illness another conspiracy, or rather several 
conspiracies were afloat, but only one was attempted to be 
realized, and the ringleader of that one, a slave of Awash Ef- 
fendi's, whom I had made free at Kavalli's, was arrested, and 
after court-martial, which found him guilty, was immediately 
executed. 

* ' Thus I have very briefly summarized the events attending the 
withdrawal of the Pasha and his Egyptians from the neighbor- 
hood of the Albert Nyanza. I ought to mention, however, that 
through some error of the native couriers employed by the 
Egyptians with us, a packet of letters was intercepted, which 
threw a new light upon the character of the people whom we 
were to escort to the sea-coast at Zanzibar. In a letter written 
by Ibrahim Effendi Elham, an Egyptain captain, to Selim Bey, 
at Wadelai, were found: 

" 'I beseech you to hurry up your soldiers. If you send only 
fifty at once, we can manage to delay the march easily enough, 
and if you come with your people soon after, we may obtain 
all we need.' 

" Ibrahim Effendi Elham was in our camp, and we may 
imagine that he only wrote what was determined upon by him- 
self and fellow-officers, should Selim Bey arrive in time to as- 
sist them in carrying out the plot. 

" On May 8 the march was resumed; but in the evening the 
last communication from Selim Bey was received. It began in 
a very insolent style, such as, ' What do you mean by making 
the Egyptian officers carry loads on their heads and shoulders? 
What do you mean by making the soldiers beasts of burden? 
What do you mean by — ,' etc., all of which were purely myth- 



798 STANLEY RESCUES EMIN PASHA. 

ical charges. The letter ended by abject entreaties that we 
should extend the time a little more, with protestations that 
if we did not listen to their prayers thdy were doomed, as they 
had but littl© ammunition left, and then concluding the most 
important intelligence of all, proving our judgment of the 
whole number to be sound. The letter announced that the ten 
rebel officers and their adherents had one night broken Jnto 
the store-houses at Wadelai, had possessed themselves of all 
the reserve arfimunition and other stores, and had departed 
for Malkaraka, leaving their dupe, Selim Bey, to be at last 
sensible that he had been an egregious fool, and that he had 
disobeyed the Pasha's orders and disregarded his urgent en- 
treaties for the sake of ingrates like those who had thrust him 
into a deep pit, out of which there was no rescue, unless we, 
of course, should wait for him. 

" A reply was sent to him for the last time that if he were 
serious in wishing to accompany us, we should proceed for- 
ward at a slow rate, halting twenty-four days on the route, by 
which he would easily overtake us with his two hundred sol- 
diers. This was the last we heard of him. 

"The route I had adopted was one which skirted the Balegga 
Mountains at a distance of forty miles or thereabouts from the 
Nyanza. The first day was a fairish path, but the three fol- 
lowing days tried our Egyptians sorely, because of the ups 
and do,wns and the brakes of cone grass. On arriving at the 
southern end of these mountains, we were made aware that our 
march was not to be uninterrupted, for the King of Unyoro 
had made a bold push, and had annexed a respectable extent 
of country on the left side of the Semliki Kiver, which em- 
braced all the open grass-land between the Semliki Kiver and 
the forest region. Thus, without making an immense detour 
through the forest, which would have been fatal to most of 
the Egyptians, we had no option but to press on despite Kab- 
ba Rega and his Warasura. This latter name is given to the 
Wanyoro by all natives who have come in contact with them. 

*' The first day's encounter was decidedly in our favor, and the 
effect of it cleared the territory as far as the Semliki River 
free of the Warasura." 



CHAPTER XXYII. 



THE RETURJ^ MARCH OF STAJfLEY AJVD EMIJf. 

'AYING disposed of the inimical natives for some time to 
come, the leader of the expedition had leisure to look 
about him and remark upon the nature of the country. 
In regard to the territory which they entered directly 
after the contest recorded in the latter part of the preceding 
chapter, he says : 

"Meantime we had become aware that we were on the 
threshold of a region which promised to be very interesting, 
for daily, as we advanced to the southward, the great snowy 
range which had so suddenly arrested our attention and excited 
our intense interest (on May 1, 1888) grew larger and bolder 
into view. It extended a long distance to the southwest, 
which would inevitably take us some distance off our course 
unless a pass could be discovered to shorten the distance to 
the countries south. At Buhobo, where we had the skirmish 
with Kabba Rega's raiders, we stood on the summit of the 
hilly range which bounds the Semliki valley on its northwest 
and southwest sides. On the opposite side rose Ruwenzori, 
the Snow mountain, and its enormous eastern flank, which 
dipped down gradually until it fell into the level, and was 
seemingly joined with the table-land of Unyoro. The humpy 
western flank dipped down suddenly, as it seemed to us, into 
lands that we knew not by name as yet. Between these oppos- 
ing barriers spread the Semliki valley — so like a lake at its 
eastern extremity that one of our ofiicers exclaimed that it 
was the lake, and the female followers of the Egyptians set 
up a shrill ' LuluJus ' on seeing their own lake, the Albert 
Nyanza, again. With the naked eye it did appear like the 
lake, but a field-glass revealed that it was a level grassy plain, 
white with the ripeness of its grass. Those who have read 
Sir Samuel Baker's Albert Nyanza. will remember the passage 

799 



800 THE RETURN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 

wherein he states that to the southwest the Nyanza stretches 
'inimitably.' He might well be in error at such a distance, 
when our own people, with the plain scarcely four miles away, 
mistook the plain for the Nyanza. As the plain recedes south- 
westerly the bushes become thicker; finally acacias appear in 
their forests, and, beyond these again, the dead black thick- 
ness of an impenetrable tropical forest; but the plain, as far 
as the eye could command, continued to lie ten or twelve miles 
wide between these mountain barriers, and through the center of 
it — sometimes inclining toward the southeast mountains, some- 
times to the southwestern range. The Semliki river pours its 
waters toward the Albert Nyanza. 

"In two marches from Buhobo we stood upon its banks, 
and, alas for Mason Bey and Gessi Pasha! had they but halted 
their steamers for half an hour to examine this river, they 
would have seen sufficient to excite much geographical inter- 
est; for the river is a powerful stream from eighty to a hun- 
dred yards wide, averaging nine feet depth from side to side, 
and having a current from three and one-half to four knots an 
hour, in size about equal to two-thirds of the Victoria Nile. 

"As we were crossing this river the Warasura attacked us 
from the rear with a well-directed volley, but, fortunately, the 
distance was too great. They were chased for some miles; 
but fleet as greyhounds, they fled, so there were no casualties 
to report on either side. 

"We entered the Awamba country on the eastern shore of 
the Semliki, and our marches for several days afterwards were 
through banana plantations, which flourished in the clearings 
made in this truly African forest. Finally, we struck the open 
again immediately under Ruwenzori itself. Much, however, 
as we flattered ourselves that we should see some marvelous 
scenery, the Snow mountain was very coy and hard to see. 
On most days it loomed impending over us like a tropical 
storm-cloud, ready to dissolve in rain and ruin on us. Near 
sunset a peak or two here, a crest there, a ridge beyond, white 
with snow, shot into view — jagged clouds eddying and whirling 
around them, and then the darkness of night. Often at sun- 
rise, too,Euwenzori would appear fresh, clean, brightly pure; 
profound blue voids above and around it; every line and dent, 
knoll and turret-like crag deeply marked and clearly visible. 
But presently all would be buried under mass upon mass of 
mist, until the immense mountain was no more visible than if 
we were thousands of miles away. And then also the Snow 
mountain being set deeply in the range, the nearer we ap- 



THE RETURN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 801 

proached the base of the range the less we saw of it, for higher 
ridges obtruded themselves and barred the view. Still, we have 
obtained three remarkable views — one from the Nyauza plain, 
another from Kavalli, and a third from the South Point. 

" Its altitude above the sea I should estimate to be between 
eighteen thousand and nineteen thousand feet. We cannot 
trust our triangulations, for the angles are too small. When we 
were in position to ascertain it correctly, the inconstant moun- 
tain gathered his cloudy blankets around him and hid himself 
from view ; but a clear view, from the loftiest summit down 
to the lowest reach of snow, obtained from a place called 
Karimi, makes me confident that the height is between the 
figures stated above. 

"It took us nineteen marches to reach the south-west angle 
of the range, the Semliki valley being below us on our right, 
and which, if the tedious mist had permitted, would have 
been exposed in every detail. That part of the valley tra- 
versed by us is generally known under the name of Awamba, 
while the habitable portion of the range is principally denom- 
inated Ukonju. The huts of these natives, the Bakonju, are 
seen as high as eight thousand feet above the sea. 

"Almost all our officers had at one time a keen desire to 
distinguish themselves as climbers of these African Alps, but, 
unfortunately, they were in a very unfit state for such a work. 
The Pasha only managed to get a thousand feet higher than 
our camp, but Lieutenant Stairs reached the height of ten 
thousand six hundred and seventy-seven feet above the sea, 
but had the mortification to find two deep gulfs between him 
and the snowy mount proper. He brought, however, a good 
collection of plants, among which were giant heather, black- 
berries, and bilberries. The Pasha was in his element among 
these plants, and has classified them. 

"The first day we had disentangled ourselves of the forest 
proper, and its outskirts of straggling bush ; we looked down 
from the grassy shelf below Euwenzori range and saw a grassy 
plain, level, seemingly, as a bowling-green, the very duplicate 
of that which is seen at the extremity of the Albert Nyanza, 
extending southerly from the forest of the Semliki valley. 
We then knew that we were not far from the Southern Lake 
discovered by me in 1877. 

"Under guidance of the Wakonju, I sent Lieutenant Stairs 
to examine the river, said to flow from the Southern Nyanza. 
He returned the next day, reporting it to be the Semliki River, 
narrowed down to a stream forty-two yards wide and about 



802 THE EETURN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 

ten feet deep, flowing, as the canoe men on its banks said, 
to the Nyanza Utuka, or Nyanza of Unyoro — the Albert Ny- 
anza. Besides native reports, he had other corroborative evi- 
dence to prove it to be the Semliki. 

'* On the second march from the confines of Awavela we 
entered Usongora, a grassy region as opposite in appearance 
from the perpetual spring of Ukonju as a droughty land could 
well be. This country bounds the Southern Nyanza on its 
northern and north-western side. 

'* Three days later, while driving theWarasura before us, or, 
rather, as they were self -driven by their own fears, we enter- 
ed, soon after its evacuation, the important town of Kative, 
the headquarters of the raiders. It is situated between an 
arm of the Southern Nyanza and a salt lake about two miles 
long and three-quarters of a mile wide, which consists of pure 
brine of a pinky color; and deposits salt in solid cakes of 
salt crystals. This was the property of the Wasongora, but 
the value of its possession has attracted the cupidity of Kab- 
ba Eega, w^ho reaps a considerable revenue from it. Toro, 
Ankori, Mpororo, Euanda, Ukonju, and many other countries 
demand the salt for consumption, and the fortunate possessor 
of this inexhaustible treasure of salt reaps all that is desirable 
of property in Africa in exchange, with no more trouble than 
the defense of it. 

*' Our road from Kative lay east and north-east, to round 
the bay-like extension of the Nyanza lying between Usongora 
and Unyampaka, and it happened to be the same taken by the 
main body of the Warasura in their hasty retreat from the salt- 
lake. On entering Uhaiyana, which is to the south of Toro, 
and in the uplands, we had passed the northern head of the 
Nyanza, or Beatrice Gulf, and the route to the south was open 
— not, however, without another encounter with the Warasura. 

''A few days later we entered Unyampaka, w^hich I had 
visited in January, 1876. Ringi the king declined to enter in- 
to the cause of Unyoro, and allowed us to feed on his bananas 
unquestioned. After following the lake shore until it turned 
too far to the south-west, we struck for the lofty uplands of 
Ankori, by the natives of which we were well received, pre- 
ceded as we had been by the reports of our good deeds in re- 
lieving the salt-lake of the presence of the universally obnoxious 
Warasura. 

** If you draw a straight line from the Nyanza to the Uzinja 
shores of the Victoria Lake, it would represent pretty fairly 
our course through Ankori, Karagwe, and Uhaiya to Uzinja. 



THE RETURX MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 803 

Aukori was open to us, because we had driven the Wanyoro 
from the salt-lake. The story was an open sesame. There al- 
so existed a wholesome fear of an expedition which had done 
that which all the power of Ankori could not have done. Kar- 
agwe was open to us, because free-trade is the policy of the 
Wanyambu, and because the Waganda were too much engrossed 
with their civil war to interfere with our passage. Uhaiya ad- 
mitted our entrance without cavil out of respect to our num- 
bers, and because we were well introduced by the Wanyambu, 
and the Wakwiya guided us in like manner to be welcomed by 
the Wazinja. Nothing happened during the long journey 
from the Albert Lake to cause us any regret that Ave had taken 
this straight course, but we have suffered from an unprece- 
dented number of fevers. We have as many as 150 cases in 
one day. Ankori is so beswept with cold winds that the expe- 
dition wilted under them. Seasoned veterans like the Pasha 
and Captain Casati were prostrated time after time, and both 
were reduced to excessive Aveakness like ourselves. Our 
blacks, regardless of their tribes, tumbled headlong into the 
long grass to sleep their fever fits off. Some, after a short ill- 
ness, died. The daily fatigues of the march, an ulcer, a fit of 
fever, a touch of bowel complaint, caused the Egyptians to 
hide in any cover along the route; and being unperceived by 
the rear-guard of the expedition, w^ere left to the doubtful 
treatment of natives with Avhose language they Avere utterly ig- 
norant. In the month of July AVje lost one hundred and forty- 
one of their number in this manner. 

*' Out of respect to the first British prince Avho has shoAA^n 
an interest in African geography, Ave have named the south- 
ern Nyanza — to distinguish it from the other two Nyanzas — 
the Albert Edward Nyanza. It is not a very large lake. Com- 
pared to the Victoria, the Tanganyika, and the Nyassa, it is 
small, but its importance and interest lie in the sole fact that 
it is the receiver of all the streams at the southwestern or left 
Nile basins, and discharges these waters by one river, the Sem- 
liki, into the Albert Nyanza, in like manner as Lake Victoria 
receives all streams from the extremity of the southeastern or 
right Nile basin, and pours these Av^aters by the Victoria Nile 
into the Albert Nyanza. These two Niles, amalgamating in 
Lake Albert, leave this under the well-knoAvn name of White 
Nile." 

Regarding the punishment Avhich Avas meted out to the treach- 
erous officers, Mr. Stanley says: 

'* The rebels of Emin Pasha's government relied on their 



THE KETURN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 805 

craft and the wiles of the heathen Chinee, and it is rather 
amusing now to look back and note how punishment has fall- 
en on them. Was it Providence or luck? Let those who love 
to analyze such matters reflect on it. Traitors without the 
camp and traitors within were watched, and the most active 
conspirator was discovered, tried, and hanged; the traitors 
without fell afoul of one another, and ruined themselves. If 
not luck, then it is surely Providence, in answer to good men's 
prayers far away. 

'* Our own people, tempted by extreme wretchedness and mis- 
ery, sold our rifles and ammunition to our natural enemies, the 
Manyuema slave-traders' true friends, without the least grace in 
either their bodies or souls. What happy influence was it that 
restrained me from destroying all those concerned in it? Each 
time I read the story of Captain Nelson's and Surgeon Parke's 
sufferings, I feel vexed at my forbearance; and yet, again, I 
feel thankful, for a Higher PoAver than man's severely afflict- 
ed the cold-blooded murderers by causing them to feed upon one 
another a few weeks after the rescue and relief of Nelson and 
Parke. The memory of those days alternately hardens and 
unmans me. 

*' With the rescue of the Pasha, poor old Casati, and those 
who preferred Egypt's fleshpots to the coarse plenty of the 
province near the Nyanza, we returned; and while we were 
patiently waiting, the doom of the rebels was consummated. 

" Since that time of anxiety and unhappy outlook, I have 
been at the point of death from a dreadful illness ; the strain 
had been too much, and for twenty-eight days I lay helpless, 
tended by the kindly and skillful hand of Surgeon Parke. 

" Then, little by little, I gained strength, and ordered the 
march for home. Discovery after discovery in the wonderful 
region was made — the snowy range of the Ruwenzori, the 
' Cloud King' or * Rain Creator,' the Semliki River, the Albert 
Edward Nyanza, the plains of Usangora, the salt lake of Ka- 
tive, the new peoples, Wakonju of the Great Mountains, the 
dwellers of the rich forest region, the Awamba, the fine-feat- 
ured Wasongora, the Wanyaro bandits, and then the Lake 
Albert Edward tribe and the shepherd race of the eastern up- 
lands — the Wanyankori, besides the Wanya-ruwamba and the 
Wazinja — until at last we came to a church whose cross domi- 
nated a Christian settlement, and we knew that we had reach- 
ed the outskirts of blessed civilization. 

** We have every reason to be grateful; and may that feel- 
ing be ever kept within me. Our promises as volunteers have 



806 THE RETURN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 

been performed as well as though we had been specially com- 
missioned by a government. We have been all volunteers, 
each devoting his several gifts, abilities, and energies to win a 
successful issue for the enterprise. If there has been anything 
that clouded sometimes our thoughts, it has been that we were 
compelled by the state of Emin Pasha and his own people to cause 
anxieties to our friends by tedious delay, and evei*y opportun- 
ity I have endeavored to lessen these by dispatching full ac- 
counts of our progress to the Committee, that through them 
all interested might be acquainted with what we had been do- 
ing. Some of my officers also have been troubled in thought 
that their government might not overlook their having over- 
stayed their leave : but the truth is, the wealth of the British 
Treasury could not have hastened our march without making 
ourselves liable to impeachment for breach of faith, and the 
officers were as much involved as myself in doing the thing 
honorably and well." 

Among the geographical results of this expedition, must be 
noted the discovery of what Stanley justly calls " the long-lost 
and wandering Mountains of the Moon." The location and 
direction of these mountains have been so variously fixed by 
different geographers, and each theory proved untenable by 
discovery and exploration of that part of the country, that 
scientists gradually came to assume that the mountains them- 
selves were but "the baseless fabric of a vision." Stanley 
writes regarding them : 

" In the least suspected part of Africa there has shot up in- 
to view and fact a lofty range of mountains, the central por- 
tion of which is covered with perpetual snow, which supplies 
a lake to the south of the equator, and pours besides scores of 
sweet-water streams to the large tributary feeding the Albert 
Nyanza from the south. 

*' You will remember that Samuel Baker, in 1864, reported 
the Albert Nyanza to stretch, ' inimitably' in a south-westerly 
direction from Yacovia, and that Gessi Pasha, who first cir- 
cumnavigated that L^ke, and Mason Bey, who, in 1877, made 
a more careful investigation of it, never even hinted of the ex- 
istence of a snowy mountain in that neighborhood, nor did the 
two last travelers pay any attention to the Semliki River. I 
might even add that Emin Pasha, for years resident on or near 
Lake Albert, or Captain Casati, who for some months resided 
in Unyoro, never heard of any such remarkable object as a 
snowy mountain being in that region j therefore we may well call it 
an unsuspected part of Africa. Surely it was none of our pur-. 



THE RETURN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 807 

pose to discover it. It simply thrust itself direct in our home- 
ward route, and as it insisted on our following its base line, we 
viewed it from all sides but the north-east. Only then could 
we depart from its neighborhood. 

"Surrounded as I am by the hourly wants of an expedition 
like this, I cannot command the time to write such a letter on 
this subject as I would wish. I must even content myself with 
allowing a few facts to fall into line for your leisurely consider- 
ation. 

*' If you will draw a straight line from the debouchure of 
the Nile from Lake Albert, two hundred and thirty geograph- 
ical miles in a direction nearly south-west magnetic, you will 
have measured the length of a broad line of subsidence, which 
is from twenty to fifty miles wide, that exists between three 
degrees north latitude and one degree south latitude in the 
centre of the African continent. On the left of this great 
trough, looking northward, of course, there is a continuous 
line of upland rising from 1000 to 3000 feet above it. Its east- 
ern face drops abruptly into the trough; the western side 
slopes gently to the Ituri and Lomba basins. To the right 
there is another line of upland. The most northerly section, 
ninety miles, rising from one thousand to three thousand 
feet along the trough, is the Unyoro plateau, whose western 
face almost precipitously falls into the trough, and whose 
eastern face slopes almost imperceptibly toward the Kafur. 
The central section, also ninety miles long, consists of the Ru- 
wenzori range, from four thousand to fifteen thousand feet 
above the average level of the trough. The remaining section 
of upland, and the most southerly, is from two thousand to 
three thousand five hundred feet higher than the trough, and 
consists of the plateaus of Uhaiyana, Unyampaka, and An- 
kori. 

"The most northerly section of the line of subsidence, 
ninety miles in length, is occupied by the Albert Nyanza; the 
central section, also ninety miles, by the Semliki River val- 
ley; the southernmost portion, fifty miles long, by the plains 
and the new Nyanza, which we have all agreed to name the 
Albert Edward Nyanza, in honor of the first British prince 
who has shown a decided interest in African geography. 

"You will observe, then, that the Semliki valley extends 
along the base of the Ruwenzori range; that the northern 
and southern extremities of Ruwenzori have each a lake 
abreast of it; that the Semliki River runs from the upper to 
the lower lake in a zig-zag course. 
50 



808 THE RETUKN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 

** If you were to make a plan in relievo of what has been 
described above, the first thing that would strike you would 
be that what had been taken out of that abyss or trough had 
been heaped up in the enormous range, and if along its slopes 
you were to channel out sixty-two streams emptying into this 
trough, and let the sides of the trough slope here and there 
sharply toward the center, you would be impressed with the 
fact that the Ruwenzori was slowly being washed into the place 
whence it came. However, all these are matters for geolo- 
gists. 

** For months, all Europeans on this expedition, before set- 
ting out on their journey toward Zanzibar from the Albert 
Lake, were exercised in their minds how Sir Samuel Baker, 
standing on a hill near Vacovia, five or six miles from the ex- 
tremity of the Nyanza, could attach * illimitability ' to such a 
short reach of water ; but after rounding the Balegga Moun- 
tains, which form a group to the south of Kavalli, we sudden- 
ly came in view of the beginning of the Semliki valley, a sight 
which caused ofllcers to ask one another, * Have you seen the 
Nyanza?' and the female portion of the Egyptian following 
to break out into rapturous *Lu-lu-lus.' Yet we were only 
four miles away from the valley, which was nearly white with 
its ripe grass, and which indeed resembled strongly the dis- 
turbed waters of a shallow lake. 

**This part of the Semliki valley, which extends from the 
lake south-westerly, is very level; for thirty miles it only at- 
tains an altitude of fifty feet above the lake. All this part can 
only recently have been formed, say the last few hundred 
years. In one of its crooked bends nearer the south-eastern 
range we stumbled suddenly upon the Semliki River, with an 
impetuous volume, from eighty to one hundred yards wide, and 
an average depth of nine feet. Its continually crumbling banks 
of sandy loam rose about six feet above it. One glance at it 
revealed it to be a river weighted with fine sediment. When 
we experimented, we found a drinking-glass full of water con- 
tained nearly a teaspoonf ul of sediment. We need not won- 
der, then, that for miles the south end of Lake Albert is so 
shallow that it will scarcely float a row-boat. 

*' Beyond the grassy portion of the valley, a few acacias be- 
gin to stud it, which, as we proceed south-westerly, became 
detached groves, then a continuous thin forest, until it reach- 
es the dense and rank tropical forest, with tall trees, joined to- 
gether by giant creepers, and nourishing in its shade thick un- 
dergrowths. Everything now begins to be sloppy wet, leaves 



THE RETUEN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 



809 



and branches glisten with dew, weeping mosses cover stem, 
branch, and twig. The ground is soaked with moisture, a con- 
stant mist rises from the fermenting bosom of the forest. In 
the morning it covers the valley from end to end, and during 




Wonderful Native Suspension Bridge Across African River, 

the early hours, stratum after stratum rises, and attracted by 
the greater drought along the slant of the Ruwenzori slopes, 
drifts upward until the summits of the highest mountains are 
reached, when it is gradually intensified until the white 



810 THE RETURN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 

mist has become a storm-cloud, and discharges its burden of 
moisture amid bursts of thunder and copious showers. 

'' The valley sensibly rises faster in the forest region than 
in the grassy part. Knolls and little rounded hills crop out, 
and the ground is much more uneven. Violent streams have 
plowed deep ravines round about them, and have left long, 
narrow ridges, scarcely a stride across, at the summit between 
two ravines a couple of hundred feet deep. At about seven- 
ty-five miles from the Albert Nyanza the valley has attained 
about nine hundred feet of an altitude above it, and at this 
junction the forest region abruptly ends. The south-west an- 
gle of Ruwenzori is about east of this, and with the change of 
scene a change of climate occurs. We have left eternal ver- 
dure and the ceaseless distillation of mist and humid vapors 
into rain, behind, and we now look upon grass ripe for the an- 
nual fire and the general droughtiness. From this place the 
valley becomes like a level grassy plain until the Albert Ed- 
ward Nyanza is reached." 

Here we turn aside from Stanley's narrative, to follow an 
authority even higher — the report of Lieutenant Stairs, who 
ascended Ruwenzori itself : 

" Expedition Camp, June 8, 1889. 

" To H. M. Stanley, Esq., Commanding Emin Pasha Belief Expedition. 

" Sir, — I have the honor to present you with the following 
account of an attempt made by me to reach the snow-capped 
peaks of Ruwenzori. 

'' Early on the morning of the 6th of June, accompanied by 
some forty ZanziLaris, we made a start from the Expedition's 
camp at the foot-hills of the range, crossed the stream close 
to camp, and commenced the ascent of the mountain. 

" With me I had two aneroids, which together we had pre- 
viously noted and compared with a standard aneroid remain- 
ing in your camp under your immediate observation; also a 
Fahrenheit thermometer. « 

" For the first nine hundred feet above camp the climbing 
was fairly good, and our progress was greatly aided by a native 
track which led up to some huts in the hills. These huts we 
found to be of the ordinary circular type so common on the 
plains, but with the difference that bamboo was largely used 
in their interior construction. Here we found the food of the 
natives to be maize, bananas, and colocasia roots. On moving 
away from these huts we soon left behind us the long, rank 
grass, and entered a patch of low, scrubby bush, intermixed 
with bracken and thorns, making the journey more difficult. 



THE RETURN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 811 

*'At 8:30 A. M., we came upon some more huts of the same 
type, and found that the natives had decamped from them 
some da^^s previously. Here the barometer read 23.58 and 
22.85; the thermometer seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit. On 
all sides of us we could see dracsenas, and here and there an 
occasional tree-fern and Mwab palm; and tangled in all shapes 
on either side of the track, were masses of long bracken. 
The natives now appeared at different hill-tops and points 
near by, and did their best to frighten us back down the 
mountain by shouting and blowing horns. We, however, kept 
on our way up the slope, and in a short time they disappeared 
and gave us very little further trouble. 

''Of the forest plains, stretching far away below us, we 
could see nothing, owing to the thick haze that then obscured 
everything. We were thus prevented from seeing the hills to 
the west and north-west. 

"At 10:30 A. M., after some sharp climbing, we reached the 
last settlement of the natives, the cultivation consisting of 
beans and colocasias, but no bananas. Here the barometer 
read 22.36 ; thermometer eighty-four degrees Fahrenheit. Be- 
yond this settlement was a rough track leading up the spur 
to the forest; this we followed; but in many places, to get 
along at all, we had to crawl on our hands and knees, so steep 
were the slopes. 

"At 11 A. M. we reached this forest, and found it to be one 
of bamboos, at first open, and then getting denser as we as- 
cended. We now noticed a sudden and complete change in 
the air from that we had just passed through. It became 
much cooler and more pure and refreshing, and all went along 
at a faster rate and with lighter hearts. Now that the Zan- 
zibaris had come so far, they all appeared anxious to ascend 
as high as possible, and began to chaff each other as to who 
should bring down the biggest load of the ' white stuff' on 
the top of the mountain. 

"At 12: 40 P. M. we emerged from the bamboos and sat 
down on a grassy spot to eat our lunch. Barometer 21.10 
and 27.95-120 ; thermometer seventy degrees Fahrenheit. Ahead 
of us, and rising in one even slope, stood a peak, in altitude 
1200 feet higher than we were. This we now started to climb, 
and after going up it a short distance, came upon the tree- 
heaths. Some of these bushes must have been twenty feet 
high, and as we had to cut our way foot by foot through them, 
our progress was necessarily slow and very fatiguing to those 
ahead. 



812 THE RETURN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 

"At 3: 15 we halted among the heaths for a few moments to 
regain our breath. Here and there were patches of inferior 
bamboos, almost every stem having holes in it, made by some 
boring insect, and quite destroying its usefulness. Under foot 
was a thick spongy carpet of wet moss, and the heaths on all 
sides of us, we noticed, were covered with * Old Man's 
Beard.' We found great numbers of blue violets and lich- 
ens, and from this spot I brought away some specimens of 
plants for the Pasha to classify. A general feeling of cold 
dampness prevailed; in spite of our exertions in climbing, we 
all felt the cold mist very much. It is this continual mist 
clinging to the hill-tops that no doubt causes all the vegeta- 
tion to be so heavily charged with moisture and makes the 
ground underfoot so wet and slippy. 

" Shortly after 4 P. M. we halted among some high heaths 
for camp. Breaking down the largest bushes, w^e made rough 
shelters for ourselves, collected what firewood we could find, 
and in other ways made ready for the night. Firewood, how- 
ever, was scarce, owing to the wood being so wet that it would 
not burn. In consequence of this, the lightly clad Zanzibaris 
felt the cold very much, though the altitude was only about 
8500 feet. On turning in, the thermometer registered sixty 
degrees Fahrenheit. From camp I got a view of the peaks 
ahead, and it was now I began to fear that w^e should not be able 
to reach the snow. Ahead of us, lying in our path, were three 
enormous ravines ; at the bottom of at least two of these there 
was dense bush. Over these we should have to travel, and 
cut our way through the bush. It then would resolve itself 
into a question of time whether we could reach the summit 
or not. I determined to go on in the morning and see ex- 
actly what difficulties lay before us, and if these could be sur- 
mounted in a reasonable time, to go on as far as we possibly 
could. 

" On the morning of the 7th, selecting some of the best men, 
and sending the others down the mountain, we started off 
again upward, the climbing being similar to that which we ex- 
perienced yesterday afternoon. The night had been bitterly 
cold, and some of the men complained of fever, but all were 
in good spirits, and quite ready to go on. About 10 A. M. we 
were stopped by the first of the ravines mentioned above. On 
looking at this I saw that it would take a long time to cross, 
and there were ahead of it still two others. We now goFour 
first glimpse of a snow peak, distance about two and a half 
miles, and I judged it would still take us about a day and a 



THE RETURN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 813 

half to reach this, the nearest snow. To attempt it, therefore, 
would only end disastrously, unprovided as we were with food, 
and with some better clothing for at least two of the men. I 
therefore decided to return, trusting all the time that at some 
future camp a better opportunity for making an ascent would 
present itself, and the summit be reached. Across this ravine 
was a bare, rocky peak, very clearly defined, and known to us 
as the southwest of the Twin Cones. The upper part of this 
was devoid of vegetation, the steep beds of rock only allowing 
a few grasses and heaths in one or two spots to exist. 

'* The greatest altitude reached by us, after being worked out 
and all corrections applied, was ten thousand, six hundred and 
seventy-seven feet above the sea. The altitude of the snow 
peak above this would probably be about six thousand feet, 
making the mountain, say, sixteen thousand six hundred feet 
high. This, though, is not the highest peak in the Ruwenzori clus- 
ter. With the aid of a field-glass I could make out the form of 
the mountain-top perfectly. The extreme top of the peak is 
crowned with an irregular mass of jagged and precipitous rock, 
and has a distinct crater-like form, I could see, through a gap 
in the near side, a corresponding rim or edge, on the farther, 
of the same formation and altitude. From this crown of rock 
the big peak slopes to the eastward at a slope of about twenty- 
five degrees, until shut out from view by an intervening peak ; 
but to the west the slope is much steeper. Of the snow, the 
greater mass lay on that slope directly nearest us, covering the 
slope wherever its inclination was not too great. The largest 
bed of snow would cover a space measuring about 600 by 300 
feet, and of such depth that in only two spots did the black rock 
crop out above its surface. Smaller patches of snow extended 
well down into the ravine. The height from the lowest snow 
to the summit of the peak, would be about one thousand two 
hundred or one thousand feet. To the E. N. E. our horizon was 
bounded by the spur which, starting directly behind our main 
camp and mounting abruptly, takes a curve in a horizontal 
plane and centers onto the snow peak. Again, that spur which 
lay south of us also radiated from the two highest peaks. This 
would seem to be the general form of the mountain, namely, 
that the large spurs radiate from the snow peaks as a center, 
and spread out to the plains below. This formation on the 
west side of the mountain would cause the streams to flow 
from the center, and flow on, gradually separating from each 
other, until they reach the plains below. There they turn to 
the W. N. W., or trace their courses along the bottom spurs 



814 THE RETURN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 

of the range and run into the Semliki River, and on to the Al- 
bert Nyanza. Of the second snow peak which we have seen 
on former occasions I could see nothing, owing to the * Twin 
Cones' intervening. This peak is merely the termination, I 
should think, of the snowy range we saw when at Kavalli's, and 
has a greater elevation, if so, than the peak we endeavored to as- 
cend. Many things go to show that the existence of these 
peaks is due to volcanic causes. The greatest proof that this 
is so lies in the numbers of conical peaks clustering round the 
central mass on the western side. These minor cones have 
been formed by the central volcano getting blocked in its cra- 
ter, owing to the pressure of its gases not being sufficient to 
throw out the rock and lav^ from its interior; and consequent- 
ly the gases, seeking for weak spots, have burst through the 
earth's crust, and thus been the means of forming these minor 
cones that now exist. Of aninjal life on the mountain we saw 
almost nothing. That game of some sort exists is plain from 
the number of pitfalls we saw on the road-sides, and from the 
fact of our finding small nooses in the natives' huts such as 
those used for taking ground game. We heard the cries of an 
ape in a ravine, and saw several dull grayish-brown birds like 
stone-chats, but beyond these nothing. 

"Wefound blueberries and blackberries at an altitude of ten 
thousand feet and over, and I have been able to hand over to 
the Pasha some specimens for his collections, the generic 
names of which he has kindly given me, and which are attach- 
ed below. That I could not manage to reach the^ snow and 
bring back some as evidence of our work I regret very much ; 
but to have proceeded onward to the mountain under the con- 
ditions in which we were situated I felt would be worse than 
useless; and though all of us were keen and ready to go on, I 
gave the order to return. I then read off the large aneroid, 
and found the hand stood at 10.90. I set the index pin direct- 
ly opposite to the hand, and we started downhill. At 3 P. M. 
on the 7th I reached you, it having taken four and a half 
hours of marching from the ' Twin Cones.' 

" I have the honor to be, sir, 

" Your obedient servant, 
" ^Y. E. Stairs, Lieut., R. E." 

We turn again to Stanley's narrative of the journey frbra 
the Nyanza to the eastern sea : 

*' The southernmost stretch of the Ruwenzori range projects 
like a promontory between two broad extents of the ancient bed 
of the Albert* Edward. To avoid the long detour, we cross 



THE RETURN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 815 

this hilly promontory in a south-easterly direction from the 
Semliki valley, and enter eastern Usongora, and are in a land 
as different from that at the northwestern base of Ruwenzori 
as early summer is from mid-winter. As we continue easterly, 
we leave Ruwenzori on our left now, and the strangely config- 
ured Albert Edward Nyanza on our right. The broad plains 
which extend between were once covered by this lake. Indeed, 
for miles along its border there are breadths of far-reaching 
tongues of swamp penetrating inland. Streams of considera- 
ble volume pour through these plains toward the Nyanza from 
Ruwenzori, without benefiting the land in the least. Except 
for its covering of grass — at this season withered and dried — 
it might well be called a desert; yet in former times, not very 
remote, the plains were thickly peopled — the zeribas of milk- 
weed and dark circles of Euphorbia, wherein the shepherds 
herded their cattle by night, prove that, as well as the hun- 
dreds of cattle-dung mounds we come across. The raids of 
the Waganda and the AVarasura have depopulated the land of 
the Wasongora, the former occupants, and have left only a 
miserable remnant, who subsist by doing ' chores' for the 
Warasura, their present masters. 

" From Usongora we enter Toro, the Albert Edward Nyanza 
being still on our right, and our course being now northeast- 
erly, as though our purpose was to march to Lake Albert 
again. After about twenty miles' march we turn east, leave 
the plains of the Albert Edward, and ascend to the uplands of 
Uhaiyana, which having gained, our course is south until we 
have passed Unyampaka, which I first saw in 1876. 

"South of Unyampaka stretches- Ankori, a large country 
and thickly peopled. The plains have an altitude of over five 
thousand feet above the sea, but the mountains rise to as high 
as six thousand four hundred feet. As Ankori extends to the 
Alexandra Nile, w^e have the well-known land of Karagwe 
south of this river. 

" Since leaving the Albert Nyanza, between Kavalli and the 
Semliki River, we traversed the lands of the AVavira and the 
Baregga. On crossing the Semliki we entered the territory of 
the Awamba. When we gained the grassy terrace at the base 
of the Ruwenzori range, we traveled on the border-line be- 
tween the AVakonju, who inhabit the lower slopes of Ruwen- 
zori, and the Awamba, who inhabit the forest region of the 
Semliki valley. The Wakonju are the only people who dwell 
upon the mountains. They build their villages as high as eight 
thousand feet above the sea. In time of war — for the "Wara- 




M 



,'4 



liJ^^^^Si^M^ 










•s X ..... Oo^«^^. 







28 Longitude EsLst 30 of Greenwich 



816 THE RETURN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 

sura have invaded their country also — they retreat up to the 
neighborhood of the snows. They say that once fifty men took 
refuge right in the snow region, but it was so bitterly cold 
that only thirty returned to their homes. Since that time they 
have had a dread of the upper regions of their mountains. 

" As far as the south-west angle of Kuwenzori the slopes of 
the front line of hills are extensively cultivated — the fields of 
sweet potatoes, millet, eleusine and the plantations of bananas 
describe all kinds of squares, and attract the attention; while 
between each separate settlement the wild banana thrives 
luxuriantly, growing at as high an altitude as the summits of 
the highest spurs, whereon the Wakonju have constructed 
their villages. 

*' Though we were mutually hostile at first, and had several 
little skirmishes, we became at last acquainted with the Wa- 
konju, and very firm, close friends. The common enemy were 
the Warasura, and the flight of the Warasura upon hearing of 
our advance revealed to the Wakonju that they ought to be 
friends with all those who were supposed to be hostile to their 
oppressors. Hence we received goats, bananas, and native 
beer in abundance ; our loads were carried, guides furnished 
us, and every intelligence of the movements of the Wanyoro 
brought us. In their ardor to engage the foe, a band of them 
accompanied us across Usongora and Toro to the frontier of 
Uhaiyana. 

'* Southwest of Awamba, beyond the forest region of the 
Semliki valley, begins Usongora. This country occupies the 
plains bordering on the north-west and north of Lake Albert 
Edward. The people are a fine race, but in no way differing 
from the finer types of men seen in Karagwe and Ankori, and 
the Wahuma shepherds of Uganda. Their food consists of 
milk and meat, the latter eaten raw or slightly warmed. 

" The Toro natives are a mixture of the higher class of ne- 
groes, somewhat like the Waganda. They have become so 
amalgamated with the lower Wanyoro thaf we can find noth- 
ing distinctive. The same may be said of the Wahaiyana. 
What the royal families of these tribes may be we can only im- 
agine from having seen the rightful prince of Usongora in An- 
kori, who was as perfect a specimen of a pure Galla as could 
be found in Shoa. But you need not conclude from this that 
only the royal families possess fine features. These Ethiopic 
types are thickly spread among the Wahuma of these Central 
African uplands. Wherever we find a land that enjoys periods 
of peace, we find the Wahuma at home, with their herds, and 



THE RETURJ^ MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 817 

in looking at them, one might fancy himself transported into 
the midst of Abyssinia. 

*' Ankori is a land which, because of its numbers and readi- 
ness to resistance, enjoys long terms of uninterrupted peace; 
and here the Wahuma are more numerous than elsewhere. 
The royal family are Wahuma, the chiefs and all the wealthier 
and more important people are pure Wahuma. Their only 
occupation, besides warring when necessary, is breeding and 
tending cattle. The agricultural class consists of slaves — at 
least such is the term by which they* are designated. The ma- 
jority of the Wahuma can boast of features quite as regular, 
fine and delicate as Europeans. 

** The countries to the south of the Albert Edward are still 
unexplored, and we have not heard much respecting them ; 
but what we have heard differs much from that which you find 
illustrated by that irregular sheet of water called Muta Nzige 
in the 'Dark Continent' map. 

" Ruanda bears the name of Unyavingi to the people of 
Ukonju, Usongora, and Ankori, and is a large, compact coun- 
try, lying between the Alexandra Nile and the Congo water- 
shed to the west, and reaching to within one day's long march 
of the Albert Edward. It also overlaps a portion of the south- 
west side of that lake. The people are described as being very 
warlike, and that no country, not even Uganda, could equal it 
in numbers or strength. The late queen has been succeeded 
by her son, Kigeri, who now governs. 

*' Since the commencement of our march homeward from 
our camp at Kavalli, we have undergone remarkable vicissi- 
tudes of climate. From the temperate and enjoyable climate 
of the region west of Lake Albert we descended to the hot- 
house atmosphere of the Semliki valley — a nearly three thou- 
sand feet lower level. Night and day were equally oppressive- 
ly warm and close, and one or two of us suffered greatly in 
consequence. The movement from the Semliki valley to the 
plains north of Lake Albert brought us to a dry but a hot land ; 
the ground was baked hard, the grass was scorched, the sun, 
but for the everlasting thick haze, would have been intolera- 
ble ; in addition to which the water, except that from the Euwen- 
zori streams, was atrocious, and charged with nitre and organ- 
ic corruption. The ascent to the eastern plateau was marked 
by an increase of cold and many an evil consequence — fevers, 
colds, catarrl^s, dysenteries, and paralysis. Several times we 
ascended to over six thousand feet above the sea, to be punish- 
ed with agues, which prostrated black and white by scores.: In 



818 THE RETUEN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 

the early mornings, at this altitude, hoar-frost was common. 
Blackberries were common along the path in north-west An- 
kori, five thousand two hundred feet above the sea-level. 

** On entering Uzinja, south-west corner of Lake Victoria, 
the health of all began to improve, and fevers became less 
common." 

The *' church whose cross dominated a Christian settlement" 
was situated at the southern end of Victoria Nyanza, at the 
mission station of Mslala, where Mr. Mackay has been estab- 
lished as a missionary for some years. They arrived at this 
point August 28, 1889. Here Stanley found a number of news- 
paper cuttings which aroused his ire, being the sage com- 
ments of the people who stay at home, upon the actions of the 
men who undertook the hardships and dangers of the expedi- 
tion. 

*'I am struck with two things, viz., the lack of common- 
sense exhibited by the writers, and the utter disregard of ac- 
curacy shown. Not one seems to have considered my own let- 
ters to the Committee, or my speech at the Mackinnon dinner 
before starting, as worthy of regard. They do not care for the 
.creed that I have always professed, the one great article of 
faith of the working portion of my life, * Never make a prom- 
ise unless you mean to keep it;' andmy second article of faith, 
which ought to have been as generally known, if words and 
corresponding actions may be judged, * Obey orders, if you 
break owners' (see my work on the Congo and its Free State). 

* All I prayed for,' said I, at the Mackinnon dinner speech, 
*is that the same impelling power which has hitherto guided 
and driven me in Africa would accompany me in my journey 
for relieving Gordon's faithful lieutenant.' 

**Now, in this White Pasha affair, tell me why should I 
budge one foot to right or left from the straight line described 
to you in my letters. ' Kavalli's, on the Albert Nyanza, almost 
due east from Yambuya — that is the objective point, natural 
obstacles permitting.' I have never yet departed from the 
principle of fulfilling my promise to the letter where there is a 
responsibility attached to it. Have people at any time discov- 
ered any crankiness in me? Then why should they suppose 
that I who expressed my view that Gordon disobeyed orders — 
Gordon's wilfulness, you remember the phrase in the Mansion 
House Speech — would be ten times more disobedient and a 
thousand times more disloyal, deserving of such charges as 

* breach of faith,' 'dishonesty,' * dissimulation,' by going in the 
direction of Bahr Gazelle and Khartoom? I should not have 



THE RETURN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 



S19 



gone were it to win an imperial cfo^Ti, unless it had been an 
article in the verbal bond between the Committee and myself. 
The object of the expedition, as I understood it, was simply the 
relief of Emin Pasha, so far as the Committee were concerned 
in the undertaking; but the Egyptian government added, 'and 
the escort of Emin Pasha and his people to the sea, should 
Emin Pasha require it.' " 

Mr. Stanley continues with an exposition of Emin Pasha's 
position among his men, which is a summary of what we have 
previously learned; and concludes with this forcible state- 
ment of the situation : 

*' When Mr. Jephson, 
according to command, 
detached himself from the 
Pasha and came to me, I 
learned then for the first 
time that the Pasha had 
had no province, govern- 
ment, nor soldiers for 
nearly five years ; that he 
was living undisturbed, 
and that some yielded 
sometimes to his wishes, 
apparently through mere 
sufferance and lack of le- 
gitimate excuse to cast him 
off utterly. But when he 
permittedhimselfbyagust 
of awakened optimism to 
venture into the presence 
of his soldiers, he was at 
once arrested, insulted, 
menaced and imprisoned." 

The remainder of the story is briefly told^ for they were now 
in a country that was comparatively well known. November 
10, the expedition arrived at Mpwapwa, on the fifty-fifth day 
from Victoria Nyanza, and the hundred and eighty-eighth 
from Albert Nyanza. The Europeans accompanying Stanley 
were Stairs, Nelson, Jephson, Parke, Bonny, Hoffman, Emin 
Pasha and daughter, Casati, Marco, and Fathers Grault and 
Schinze of the Algerian Mission. As they neared Bagamoyo 
they were met by Major Wissmann, and heartily welcomed back 
to civilization. 

A few words may here be devoted to this gallant German 




Maj. Wissmann. 



820 THE RETURN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 

officer, who had made such great efforts for the accomplish- 
ment of that which Stanley had really done. Born at Frank- 
fort on the Oder, in 1853, he was but twenty when he became 
a second lieutenant in the Prussian army. The attainment of 
this rank permitted him to resign; this he did at once, prof- 
fering his services to the African Society of Berlin. They 
were accepted, and he was appointed topographer to an expe- 
dition which that association w^as then arranging for Western 
Africa, under the leadership of Dr. Pogge. 

The expedition reached its starting-point on the west coast 
early in 1881, and completed the journey across the continent 
in less than two years. Wissmann again left Germany for Af- 
rica in 1883, under the auspices of the International African As- 
sociation. It was during this trip that he discovered a new 
lake, as he thought ; but comparison with Stanley's accounts 
left no room for doubt that it was Lake Leopold, previously 
discovered by the Anglo-American. The subsequent years 
were largely spent in African travel, so that when the German 
government decided to send out an Emin Pasha Relief Expe- 
dition, Captain Wissmann, as he was now ranked, was obvious- 
ly the leader for it. He proceeded to the great lakes, but found 
that his force was too small to permit him to force his way 
through the country occupied by the Mahdi, so that the best 
he could do was to return to the coast and report the news. 

About the same time that Capt. Wissmann started out, an ex- 
pedition was sent out by the German Colonial Society, under 
the leadership of Dr. Peters. This gentleman was born in 
Neuhaus, on the Elbe, in 1856; he had distinguished himself 
as a historian and a philologist before he became interested in 
African affairs. He first became prominent in this connection 
in 1884, when he concluded certain treaties with the East Af- 
rican chiefs. The expedition, which numbered six Europeans 
besides the leader, started from Zanzibar shortly after Stanley 
left the west coast on his way to the interior. It is too early 
as yet to speak of the after history of this effort to reliev'e 
Emin Pasha, except to say that frequent reports of massacres 
have reached Europe and America, only to be contradicted as 
soon as Dr. Peters heard them. 

Stanley and his companions made a triumphal entry into 
Bagamoyo on the morning of December 4, 1889. The Euro- 
pean residents of that place would have entertained them in 
grand style, but the short stay which the travelers contempla- 
ted gave room only for a banquet the night of their arrival. 
One of the consequences of this reception bade fair for a time 



THE RETURN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 



821 



to cast a gloom over the termination of the expedition. Emin 
Pasha stepped from the banquet-room to the balcony, to re- 
spond to the call of the people in the street without ; but his 
imperfect eye-sight did not permit him to see the bounds of 
the balcony, and he inadvertently stepped from its edge to the 
street below, twenty feet beneath. His head was injured in the 




Peters. 



fall, and for some time it was thought that his skull was frac- 
tured; but day by day the symptoms became more favorable, 
and at last he was pronounced on the road to recovery. 

Stanley crossed the channel on the 6th, being escorted by 
the combined English and German fleets, and was welcomed 
with due ceremony by the officials there. The sultan of Zan- 
zibar, acting through the English consul, presented him with 



822 



THE RETUEN MARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 



the only order in his gift, whose Arabic name may be trans- 
lated as the Order of Zanzibar. 




Presentation to Mr. Stanley of (he Order of Zanzibar. 

The expedition arrived at Suez January 13. A correspond- 
ent of the London Times thus describes Stanley: 

*' Stanley stood on the quarter-deck, dressed in gray tweed, 



THE RETURN »IARCH OF STANLEY AND EMIN. 823 

his figure very much slighter than three years ago, his close cut 
and almost perfectly white hair showing off his bronzed face, 
with its hard-set lips and cold gray eyes. He seemed the em- 
bodiment of physical endurance and mental self-control. I 
noticed a singular part-resemblance to two men as different to 
himself as to each other — General Gordon and Captain Bur- 
ton — he has the eyes of Gordon and the lips of Burton. There 
are times when Stanley's eyes have that far-away light which 
was the most striking characteristic of Gordon's personal ap- 
pearance, and there are times when Stanley's lips make you 
feel that you would rather not quarrel with him." 

The next day he proceeded by special train to Cairo, where 
he was received by a large and brilliant concourse of the Eu- 
ropeans resident there. Stanley, however, according to the 
testimony of an eye-witness, seemed to be more interested in 
the safety of his baggage than in anything else. A carriage 
was in waiting to convey him to the khedive's palace, and in 
the course of a half-hour's interview he appears to have con- 
vinced that ruler that Emin Pasha would make an excellent 
civil administrator at Suakim. Congratulatory telegrams had 
reached him from all sources, ever since his arrival at Zanzi- 
bar; the first received being from the Emperor William II. of 
Germany; but even these were of far less significance than 
the thrill which ran through the pulses of the world w^hen it 
was known that Stanley had once more emerged in safety from 
the wilds of Africa. 

No fitter commentary can be made on the great explorer's 
work than his own modest words in a late letter to a friend in 
Vermont : 

'* The end crowns the work, did I say, December 10, 1886? 
I say it again this date of 1890. I have brought exiles back to 
their homes. I have united parted families. I have rescued 
those who were in sore straits. I have borne the young and 
aged and placed them in their loved land of Egj^pt. I have 
brought the beleaguered Governor out of his threatened bond- 
age. Wherefore, as these w^ere aims of the work and they 
have been accomplished, I say the end crowns the work. 
True I am blanched and white, but w^hat matters it. I have 
naught to regret, and if any mission of like nature presented 
itself I should still wish to do it. For w^hether here or there, 
life stays not, but rushes on apace, and men must work and 
strive; but let us do it bravelv and fitly with all our strength." 
51 




'^AY24W^, 



